Superman Obama Sucks

Last time Obama was all “wee weeded” up he went for a wee vacation on Martha’s Vineyard. Now weak-kneed Obama is looking to “kick ass” (inducing general laughter at the thought of the string-bean from Chicago making physical threats and pretending he has testicular, um, fortitude), and confessing his inability to suck well. Can the boob do anything right?

Obama’s latest whine? “I’m no Superman” exclaims the exasperated One.

But it was not so long ago that Obama and his champions were saying exactly that. “Obama is Superman” claimed the Hopium addicted and Hopium impaired.

Now that Americans are demanding competence, Obama whines that Americans are expecting too much from him. “I’m not Superman… I’m not Superman…. I’m not Superman.”

The latest Obama whine comes from a White House video, that rarely loads, so you might have trouble watching it. More incompetence from the newly Christianed “non-Superman”.

“Even though I am President of the United States my powers are not limitless,” Obama said last Friday at Camardelle’s Live Bait and Boiled Seafood, “So I can’t dive down there and plug the hole. I can’t suck it up with a straw. All I can do is make sure that I put honest, hardworking, smart people in place.”

“I will do everything in my power to do right by you guys. And everybody along the coast.”

The president’s quote – previously unseen by the pool of reporters traveling with him not allowed access to this specific exchange – was posted today on the White House website as part of their weekly video posting, “West Wing Week.” The weekly video summarizes the president’s week by featuring behind-the-scenes footage shot by White House videographers.

“Skip ahead to 3:00 for presidential oratorical glory. This really is the new meme among his supporters, believe it or not, per the fact that the video below comes from the White House itself: Not only shouldn’t our global messiah be expected to plug the damn hole — he’s not Superman, people! — but evidently he shouldn’t be expected to find out if there’s any containment boom sitting in a warehouse somewhere waiting to be used either. What he’s supposed to do, apparently, is go around reminding people why he’s really not to blame. I’ll say this for him: He’s awfully good at that, at least.

Obama supporters used to say Obama is Superman. Obama and Obama supporters used to claim Obama had all sorts of remarkable powers. But that was up and until Obama actually had to perform and do the job.

Now the excuses gush forth. “He’s no Superman.” Yesterday, the “He’s no Superman” excuses began in the Washington Post with Paul Starobin. Paul Starobin is “a staff correspondent for National Journal and a contributing editor to the Atlantic“. Yup, that National Journal and that Atlantic.

“Completing a full spin through the revolving door, Linda Douglass, a long-time CBS and ABC correspondent before jumping aboard the Obama campaign in 2008 – followed by HHS and White House positions promoting ObamaCare — has re-joined The Atlantic as a Vice President who “will concentrate on company strategy and communications,” the Washington Post’s Howard Kurtz reported online Thursday morning.

Before joining the Obama campaign as senior strategist and senior campaign spokesperson on the road, Douglass toiled for National Journal, part of Atlantic Media which also owns The Hotline. Her first stint in the new administration was as Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services, followed by Communications Director for the White House’s Health Reform Office, a slot she left in April.”

Linda Douglas at the Atlantic and National Journal and Paul Starobin is already sucking up. Maybe he should be sent with a straw to the Gulf. Yesterday Starobin started the “He’s no Superman” narrative. Starobin prefers to blame the Americans who Obama and Obama supporters victimized with lies:

“Why can’t President Obama stop the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico? Why can’t he get the Israelis and Palestinians to stop squabbling and make peace? Why can’t he get the Europeans to contribute more troops to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan? Why can’t he forge a global treaty to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases?

Why can’t he . . . well, you get the point. Obama, it turns out, is not Superman. In (unhappy) truth, no president is, no matter how politically gifted and no matter how many people, in this country and around the world, root for his success.”

The man is an amazing suck-up. Send him to the Gulf with a straw.

“Obama in particular plays to this seductive but fanciful notion. In electing him president in 2008, Americans seemed to think that “yes, we can” would become, almost overnight, “and so we have done,” with a charmed figure — all the more so for his astonishingly rapid rise to the top — replacing a spent one, the stoop-shouldered George W. Bush.

Liberal partisans were quick to offer parallels between Obama and Franklin Delano Roosevelt — the most successful and beloved president of the 20th century, with an unapologetic faith in activist government.”

Paul! Stop it! You are embarrassing yourself. You are a total suck-up.

But Paul and the Obama Hopium Guzzlers won’t stop. Now it’s blame the victim. It’s Americans who voted for the unqualified Obama, after being assured he was indeed Superman, who are to blame -says suck-up Paul:

“Obama, fairly enough, is reaping what he sowed in assigning himself an impossible mission as a global savior. But Americans are his culpable enablers. Few people want to hear this, but he’s doing the best he can, considering the difficult circumstances that he and the nation face. And what he needs most from the public is a quality that distinguishes adults from children: patience.

What are most of the Obama Hopium Guzzlers up to these days. Well, they are doing their best to avoid the Gulf oil disaster.Recall that MyDud “ardent environmentalist” we wrote about? The “ardent environmentalist” pouted on the day Obama announced offshore drilling would proceed. The “ardent environmentalist” wanted the big environmental groups to express their rage with “statements of annoyed disappointment”. We mocked this goofball then. We checked to see what storms of outrage come from the “ardent environmentalist” now. We found – NOTHING.

“Ardent environmentalist” is avoiding the Obama Crude gushing in the Gulf like a plague. No comment from “ardent environmentalist” on this catastrophic environmental disaster. His cohort, we kid you not, is whining about the latest cover of Newsweek which portrays Sarah Palin with a halo. Writes this other sad sack:

“The latest edition of Newsweek magazine canonizes former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on its cover as a “saint” in American politics, despite no evidence of Palin performing a miracle during her short time on the national stage.

Quite frankly, the Newsweek cover pictured at left is very unnerving.”

The lawyers who LeftTalk also are silent on the environmental disaster Obama is too incompetent to do anything about. These LeftTalk lawyers somehow cannot find any legal issues regarding the Gulf oil gusher to write about.

“One website that is run by well educated lawyers trashed Sarah Palin about her daughter’s behavior and her mother-in-law’s behavior, held a perverse “lottery” to determine when Palin would withdraw, chose Obama because he was the “media darling”, and acually dared to declare Obama will be one of our greatest presidents – comparable to FDR.

The LeftTalker, defender of Zazi, on the barricades for Polanski, trashed Sarah Palin because of what Palin’s mother-in-law allegedly did. Now that LeftTalker is ever so concerned, between TV shows, about poor wittle Joran Van der Sloot, the likely serial killer. For Palin, no benefit of the doubt, no presumption of innocence for the acts of someone she barely know. For likely serial killers, tears from the Colorado hypocrite. Not a word about legal issues in the Obama Crude impotence scandal gushing from the Gulf from LeftTalkers.

Obama used to be the “media darling” but now Obama is covered in his own Crud. “Ardent environmentalists” and their cohort used to claim Barack Obama was Clark Kent was Superman.

278 thoughts on “Superman Obama Sucks”

As the greatest environmental catastrophe in U.S. history has played out on Obama’s watch, the environmental movement has essentially given him a pass — all but refusing to unleash any vocal criticism against the president even as the public has grown more frustrated by Obama’s performance.

About a dozen environmental groups took out a full page ad in the Washington Post Tuesday — not to fault Obama over the ecological catastrophe but to thank him for putting on hold an Alaska drilling project. “We deeply appreciate your decision. …” the ad says to Obama.

“President Obama is the best environmental president we’ve had since Teddy Roosevelt,” Sierra Club chairman Carl Pope told the Bangor Daily News last week. “He obviously did not take the crisis in the Minerals Management Service adequately seriously, that’s clear. But his agencies have done a phenomenally good job.”

Some say there’s little doubt that if a spill like the one in the Gulf took place on former President George W. Bush’s watch, environmental groups would have unleashed an unsparing fury on the Republican in the White House. For their liberal ally, Obama, they seem willing to hold their tongues.

“These guys have bet the farm on this administration,” said Ted Nordhaus, chairman of an environmental think tank, the Breakthrough Institute. “There has been a real hesitancy to criticize this administration out of a sense that they’re kind of the only game in town. … These guys are so beholden to this administration to move their agenda that I think they’re unwilling to criticize them.”

The most prominent voices of outrage have come not from mainstream environmental groups, but from the likes of political consultant James Carville, comedian Bill Maher and Plaquemines, La., Parish President Billy Nungesser.

Carville’s call for Obama to hold BP’s feet to the fire has penetrated the national consciousness in a way that comments from traditional environmental groups have not.

“ ‘Who’s your daddy?’ has become the talking point of the crisis so far,” observed Matt Nisbet, a professor of environmental communications at American University, referring to a comment by Carville. “It’s difficult for the national environmental groups to be critics of the administration — they’re working so closely with the administration. … They have reacted cautiously and softly.”

“Yucca Mountain has enormous potential to bury the nuclear waste from the nation’s nuclear power plant, thus fulfilling the need in America for clean, cost efficient energy, as well as economic diversity for Nevada and much needed jobs for thousands.”[32]
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My comment has nothing to do with Sharron Angle.
Just an anecdotal story…

I wrote a paper some time ago on the downside of burying expended nuclear waste at Yucca Mtn. After much research, there was a consensus of opinion bearing out what would become another similar Brockovichian case. There was wan extraordinarily high incidence of children and adults living down stream (south of) from the underground nuclear deposits adults w/Cancerous tumors and children with Leukemia concentrated in a particular area.

We traced back and found the spent nuclear waste products were leeching into underground water tributaries eventually reaching newly constructed housing developments tapping into local underground water sources.

To this day, I know of no safe and effective disposal of spent nuclear waste. The last I’ve heard of what we are doing with it- is we recently made a deal with Russia to transport it to the outer reaches of Siberia for deep underground disposal.

When visiting Lubbock, Texas 8yrs ago- I picked up a newspaper with a front page headline announcing a mining site on the state line between NM and TX would be the new site for cavernous burial of spent nuclear waste. My son was attending university there. The Yucca Mtn research still resonating, I transferred him to UT at Arlington just in case.

“President Obama is the best environmental president we’ve had since Teddy Roosevelt,” Sierra Club chairman Carl Pope told the Bangor Daily News last week. “He obviously did not take the crisis in the Minerals Management Service adequately seriously, that’s clear. But his agencies have done a phenomenally good job.”
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Carl Pope suffers from a form of mental illness which is increasingly common among beltway elites of the liberal persuasion. Given a choice between defending their purported values for which proselytize, pontificate and demand member money vs being invited to White House parties if they turn a blind eye to his misdeeds they invariably choose the latter.

This refusal to hold Obama accountable for his failure to act responsibly and decisively in the face of this mega environmental disaster puts a lie to the entire claim that the Sierra Club is an environmentalist organization. It has become nothing more than a caviar consuming, Australian bushman hat wearing refugees from Fantasy Island. Ansel Adams would repudiate Pope and is ilk, if he were still living.

jbstonesfan
Read everything she wrote
The song is a parody. Completely protected speech. To scrub/delete it means to get rid of over half of all SNL skits available on you tube.
I hope there is a means by which she can hold you tube financially accountable.
It seems to me that google is playing politics and if I am correct I wonder what else I have not heard from the news as the monstrosity has seen fit to squash it.
EVERY NEWS ORGANIZATION pays people and uses computers to follow what is trending.

Wow
I am in moderation again
The song is a parody. Completely protected speech. To scrub/delete it means to get rid of over half of all SNL skits available on you tube.
I hope there is a means by which she can hold you tube financially accountable.
It seems to me that google is playing politics and if I am correct I wonder what else I have not heard from the news as the monstrosity has seen fit to squash it.
EVERY NEWS ORGANIZATION pays people and uses computers to follow what is trending.

He obviously did not take the crisis in the Minerals Management Service adequately seriously, that’s clear. But his agencies have done a phenomenally good job.”
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Admiral Husband Kimmel was a fine naval officer. He looked very good in a uniform. His USO parties where divina. And the man had style. Obviously he did not take the Japanese threat to Pearl Harbor seriously. We forgive him of course. And so do the widows and orphans of the servicemen killed because he did not do thing seriously. But as they say, seriousness is a much overrated virtue.

The latest Obama whine comes from a White House video, that rarely loads, so you might have trouble watching it. More incompetence from the newly Christianed “non-Superman”.
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HA HAHAHHAHAHAAAA… My gut was literally hurting after reading that while watching the little “loading” icon them spin and spin and spin and spin.

The battle for truth and the American way will always be a battle against the effect of trigger words, (racist, sexist, religion, and right to life/choice) that will allow incompetent people like Obama to become president.

While political wars are raged over which party is most ‘right’, the dirty little deals in the back room that push though America’s agenda will keep happening.

We all know why Obama was selected, used and proped up to be the best president that ever lived, those people didn’t anticipate that Hillary supporters and the Republican’s wouldn’t fall for the lies, would see though them from the start and would work day and night to expose this farce.

We didn’t anticipate that Obama would be standing with his pants down in front of the country this early on. The left is quiet because they are partly in denial, some are sad and many are too embarrised to admit it.

How long does Obama need to stand nude on his pedestal before someone covers him with a blanket and ushers him out of office? He is now facing total humiliation, and so are his supports…I predict is it going to get really ugly before 2012.

jbstonesfan
I am just curious after reading Glick’s statements about the video being pulled.
I would assume that google/you tube as a privately held company would be able to do as they see fit as long as they did not discrimminate
but in taking the action against a blatant parody while allowing thousands if not tens of thousands of other parodies to continue to exist aren’t they exposing themselves to a huge liability.
And in offering a corporate shield for certain groups do they not open up a huge can of worms?

really
even if all other parodies regardless of how offensive are still online
from what I read it was about copyright infringement but a search of we are the world spoofs gives a ton of results.
You tube is singling out an organization based on religion to bloc a video.

Admin: This was yet another great article. It has me scratching my head, these lefties have got to be the most dangerous people ever in charge of the government. I really never expected to say that or actually believe that, but when you bring to my attention that the left is all but willing to let the Gulf of Mexico die to make political points for their messiah, I have to search my soul and realize that they are so very dangerous. These lefties are constantly burning up SUV’s, houses, to save the planet, yet because George Bush and the republicans are oil men they are willing to let the Gulf die to prove a point. OMG, these people have to be run out of town on a rail.
Well we can however boycott the music industry/movie industry for this. Those who care nothing for the Southern coast will get hit in the pocketbook.

Britain Comes Out Swinging Against Obama- If any of you have had the chance, if not, I suggest you do, to watch the docu-drama: “A Special Relationship”, a film documenting the relationship beginning with the ascendancy of Tony Blair to the Prime Minister position and the interaction between the UK and the US under the stewardship of then President Bill Clinton.

This is part 2 in real time and real life:

America’s ALWAYS tried to do down Britain

Has the worm turned at last? As the oil continues to gush in the Gulf of Mexico, angry rhetoric has gushed from President Barack Obama’s lips. His rabid denunciations of BP have damaged the interests not only of that company but of most British people, in a way that must make us wonder whether he leads a friendly country.

Vince Cable, the new Business Secretary, calls Obama’s rhetoric ‘extreme and unhelpful’; London mayor Boris Johnson says it’s ‘anti-British’, adding that ‘BP is paying a very, very heavy price indeed’.

Bemusingly, David Cameron says only that he understands the U.S. administration’s ‘frustration’, although he promises to take up the matter with Obama, after the Prime Minister returns from Afghanistan – where British troops are fighting and dying on behalf of the United States, it may be recalled.

‘Extreme and unhelpful’ is no exaggeration. Obama has played to the gallery by saying that he would like to sack Tony Hayward, head of BP; the president talks in a cheap way about ‘kicking ass’. Whether or not the American president can kick our asses, he can certainly hurt our wallets and purses.

As BP’s share price has plummeted, it has lost £55billion of its market value, and the company’s entire outlook is very bleak, which affects most of us. Every British insurance company, building society and pension fund has large holdings of BP shares in its portfolio.

If you have a pension, at present or in prospect, your income falls with every sour word Obama speaks. It’s a fine way for a friend to behave, if indeed we should regard the president as a friend.

His rhetoric is repellently hypocritical as well as demagogic. Quite apart from the fact that Hayward and his colleagues have every interest in plugging the spill, for years past BP has filled Washington’s coffers with tax revenue, and fed the American people’s unquenchable thirst for cheap petrol.

When Obama continually refers to BP as ‘British Petroleum’, which is no longer its formal name, he is saying something revealing about himself, and his Anglophobic spite will come as no surprise to those who have followed his career, and read his memoir Dreams From my Father.

He seems to have made up the part about his father being tortured by the British in Kenya, but there’s no question that Obama nurses a disdain for and even dislike of this country.
Instead of reciprocating his feelings, we should maybe take the opportunity to look harder at our connection with the United States, and at that ridiculous phrase ‘special relationship’. On the whole Englishmen have used the phrase much more than Americans, although one exception was the affable if inept Senator John McCain.

A few years before he was defeated for the presidency by Obama, he visited England, and was interviewed. ‘The special relationship between our two countries will endure throughout the 21st century,’ McCain said. ‘I say that with total confidence because it’s lasted for 200 years.’

It has what? The senator’s ‘200 years’ would take us back to the beginning of the 19th century, or let’s say to 1812. What was special about the relationship that year was that the two countries were at war.

Shortly after he had taken us into the appalling Iraq war, by way of telling a pack of porkies with Alastair Campbell’s sordid help, Tony Blair visited Washington to be greeted by President Bush – ‘Thank you, friend’ – and cheered to the echo by Congress for services rendered. In his smarmy speech, Blair mentioned the burning of Washington by the British in 1814 and obsequiously said: ‘I know it’s kinda late, but sorry.’

Had he known more history, he might have been aware that this was only one episode in a very fraught story. For most of the 19th century a large part of the British Army had to be stationed in Canada to protect it from its southern neighbour, and at one point Sir Robert Peel warned Parliament about the grave danger of a war with the United States.

In 1895 the two countries nearly went to war again over an incomprehensible border dispute in South America, and bloodshed was avoided only by the forbearance of Lord Salisbury, the prime minister.

A certain kind of fawning Tory likes to talk about the way the Americans have generously rescued us in the past century. This is historical claptrap. When the Great War began in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson worried that he might need to intervene – on the German side.

In 1917, the United States did at last enter the war, after the British had suffered hundreds of thousands of dead and wounded. Even then the Americans sustained very few casualties by European standards, as they did in the next war.

This time they waited from September 1939 until December 1941, and then they went to war only because the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and Hitler declared war on the United States (not the other way round). And before that, the supposedly generous Lend-Lease agreement had stripped us of overseas assets and destroyed the British exporting economy for decades to come.

Any idea of a special relationship should have been ended in 1956 when Washington pulled the rug from under the British and French when their troops had gone to Suez. That didn’t stop President Johnson from subsequently demanding British troops to serve in Vietnam. Mercifully, Harold Wilson, in his one good deed as prime minister, politely declined.

Since then we have been taken into another terrible war in which we had no reason to fight by Tony Blair, who throughout his career assiduously served the interests of another country. Our rewards from Washington have ranged from a tariff likely to destroy what’s left of the British steel industry, to studied American neutrality over the Falklands, to Obama’s grandstanding attacks on BP.

A year ago Gordon Brown visited Washington to be publicly humiliated by Obama (remember the exchange of gifts: thoughtful presents for the president and his children, trashy DVDs and toys for the Browns in return).

If a dark cloud of oil can now have a silver lining, then it might at least lead us to reassess our ignoble relationship with Washington. If the American president is going to ignore or even damage British interests, then let him.

But might not our own government stand up for those interests? For a start, some of the money we’ve all lost through the BP debacle, and presidential venom, could at least be recouped by bringing our troops home from a hopeless American war in Afghanistan.

Asked what she was doing to reorganize her campaign to prepare for “massive national attention,” Angle smiled.

“You want me to tell you my strategy?” she said, bursting out laughing. “You’re so interested in that, but these guys right here are so interested in my job and my home.”

She left promptly afterward for Reno.

Angle was more accessible to a conservative talk radio host.

“You’ve been called a ‘niche candidate.’ A quote, ‘whack job,'” KXNT host Alan Stock asked her during a half-hour interview Wednesday. “What are they talking about?”

Angle began rattling off a list of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) more infamous statements.

“I feel like I’m more mainstream than the fellow that said tourists stink. This war is lost. Light skinned, no Negro dialect. Can I go on and on about what I think a whack job, marginal candidate sounds like, and that’s Harry Reid. And that’s why we need to fire him. He is so out of touch with mainstream America,” she said.

A Rasmussen Reports survey of likely voters taken Wednesday had Angle earning 50 percent support while Reid picked up 39 percent. The remaining 11 percent is split between undecided and some other candidate.

I find it terribly sickening that the Gulf of Mexico is being held hostage by the war between the right and the left.

The right seems not all to worry about the spill, they say the gulf will clean itself, yet the left doesn’t give a crap about it because in their feeble minds they think it is somehow associated with Palin and Bush.

In the mean time, no one knows where the freaking boom is being kept.

I also read that the makers coerexit is a Illinois company and the WH had this company shipping this toxic material by the plane full before the fire was out on the rig….I wonder whose getting a kickback in Illinois for pumping the most toxic dispersant in the Gulf of Mexico???

admin
Seems to me that a video which was generating a quarter of a million hits per day would be even more suspect, here it is a cash cow and the next day it is gone!!!!!

Lets bring a little attention to the fact that Kagen thought it was okay to defend a woman who refused to rent an apartment to an un married couple. Wow ypu may say she was being devil’s advocate. I say she may along the same argument say it is okay to beat your wife.

I ache for the disagreement. Once our government acknowledes sharia law there is no going back.
Tell me there is no way that will happen and I will tell you they are building a mosque at gound zero,

Why can’t he . . . well, you get the point. Obama, it turns out, is not Superman. In (unhappy) truth, no president is, no matter how politically gifted and no matter how many people, in this country and around the world, root for his success.”
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1. Is this the best Linda Douglass can do to exonerate Obama?

2. Obama is not superman, ergo he cannot be expected to solve:

the oil pollution problem,

the Palestinian problem,

the debt problem,

the Iranian problem,

the terrorist problem,

the China problem, or any other existential crisis we face?

3. The issue is that during the campaign, Obama contended the very opposite, namely:

a. one: that he WAS/IS Superman, and-

b. two: that he could and indeed would solve those problems

c. three: create a brave new world

4. Desperate and politically naiive people believed that lie and voted for him

5. While cynical people like Douglass and her money grubbing attorney husband took advantage of the American People.

Admin: This was yet another great article. It has me scratching my head, these lefties have got to be the most dangerous people ever in charge of the government. I really never expected to say that or actually believe that, but when you bring to my attention that the left is all but willing to let the Gulf of Mexico die to make political points for their messiah, I have to search my soul and realize that they are so very dangerous. These lefties are constantly burning up SUV’s, houses, to save the planet, yet because George Bush and the republicans are oil men they are willing to let the Gulf die to prove a point. OMG, these people have to be run out of town on a rail.
Well we can however boycott the music industry/movie industry for this. Those who care nothing for the Southern coast will get hit in the pocketbook.
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We all see their true colors now. They’re not about anything but CONTROL over us and redistribution of wealth, setting themselves up as permanent elites. They are mentally ill and hate themselves.

I am certain that this new post by the SoS dept will solidify Hillarys position when she and Bill deem the time has come to make that big move to save our country from the enemy within.

PRN: 2010/786

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Blowme, It took me a while, but this oil spill and their indifference to it did it for me…they don’t give a crap about anything but their agenda. They don’t care about animals dying, people’s work or anything, just their stupid idea that they know better than the rest of us.

We really need to research the stuff they are spraying on our Gulf…it’s main offices are in Illinois.

They are all are arguing who’s right and who’s wrong, meanwhile the Gulf and its animals are dying.

no president is, no matter how politically gifted and no matter how many people, in this country and around the world, root for his success.”
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Still sitting here re. Douglass wondering what kind of a loon who wants to be considered a serious journalist would write this kind of purple prose when referring to Obama:

1. that he is “politically gifted”

2. that people in this country and around the world “rooting for his success”.

As to the first proposition, how politically gifted can he be when everything he touches turns to shit? The common understanding of the words politically gifted is that those political gifts do not just sit there like a figurine of a groom on a wedding cake, but actually are put to some productive use which yields tangible results for the country.

As to the second proposition, the sentence was taken out of context. The original text read people here and around the world would sooner undergo root canal surgery, and be on a burning ship at midnight and have their tonsils removed without anesthesia than listen to another one of his rhetorical flourishes written by pre pubiscents and delivered by telebama, the only member of his inner circle who is not on the juice from Chicago.

Watch for a declaration of bankruptacy from BP.Otrauma has added eveything down to postage stamps for losses declared by just about everyone with sand in their shoes.It has all been planned out by BP BO and Insurance Co,s.I call this scheme “The Raping Of America”Hope I am wrong but These are bigtime international CROOKS.

“Unfortunately for Barack Obama, a series of crises have exposed him as incurious, disengaged, and apt to outsource leadership more than demonstrate it. In that sense, Ramirez may well be unfair in this depiction … to Jimmy Carter.”

confloyd
June 12th, 2010 at 5:13 pm
Blowme, It took me a while, but this oil spill and their indifference to it did it for me…they don’t give a crap about anything but their agenda.
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These aren’t the old Dems from 20+ years ago. These people are EVIL. Someone made a comment the other day and I agree. It’s not even left v. right anymore, it’s about good vs. evil. In their world, everything normal people hold dear, they hold in contempt and want to modify to their twisted ideals.
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They don’t care about animals dying, people’s work or anything, just their stupid idea that they know better than the rest of us.
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All their “concern” is a prop to dupe people with actual human emotions into their bigger agenda of control.
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We really need to research the stuff they are spraying on our Gulf…it’s main offices are in Illinois.
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Did they ever change over to that type that was non-toxic or are they still stupidly spraying that poisin shit out there? Probably the non-toxic crap hasn’t gone through 2 years of EPA “testing” and since “president” asshole won’t declare an emergency and waive any of these necessary restrictions, it can’t be used.
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They are all are arguing who’s right and who’s wrong, meanwhile the Gulf and its animals are dying.
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Blowme, I am downright scared that they are going to and have planned to kill the Gulf of Mexico. Its apparent they don’t like southerners.
This leak isn’t like the others, this is one big mfing leak. I don’t think there going to stop it.

What this with Limbaugh saying to quit worrying about the oil spill, I don’t get that. I guess labels are over. We need to discover who is working for the same boss.

“Unfortunately for Barack Obama, a series of crises have exposed him as incurious, disengaged, and apt to outsource leadership more than demonstrate it. In that sense, Ramirez may well be unfair in this depiction … to Jimmy Carter.”
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During the debates he told us this. He compared himself to a CEO who does not get his hands dirty. He characterized his role as that of providing a vision of leadership. And then of course he promised to hire the best dang people in the whole dang universe to carry out that divine vision. And true to his word he did just that. He hired Janet.

The rubes who did not know shit from shinola exclaimed omg is he gifted, and we are rooting for him, etc. They never stopped to think that talk is chief. And now we see him in all his glory, as he demonstrates his incompetence for all to see. And what are the rest of us to make of him? Incurious? Yes. Disengaged? For sure. Apt to outsource leadership? You betcha.

I can’t even watch it anymore without getting a pit in my stomach. What we could have had, versus what a joke we have now.
And it wasn’t even if she had lost, as long as it was fairly; I would accepted that. But it was stolen, that’s what makes me even more mad, the entire undemocratic party should its true colors then.

Admin: yes, I see that. I also see that not only did Obama tell us who he was, but so did our Hillary and not just once but dozens of times. That PumaPac article contains another quote where Hillary called the game on this bozo:

“Change is just a word if you don’t have the strength and experience to make it happen.” – Hillary Rodham Clinton

Linda Douglas and her ilk should sicken the American People. They can worship in whatever church they want, but when they are on the job and enjoying the protection accorded to journalists by the first amendment, they need to stop the adulation and ask the tough questions that the public needs answers to if we are to remain a republic.

For example when the Dean of the House–Dingle says “our goal is to control the American People” the people need to know exactly what he means and what impact that effort will have on our wealth and liberty. That half the jounalists treat statements like that that as not newsworthy, and the other half says oh perhaps we will have time some day when there is not exciting event by Obama to cover to ask him what he meant by that. Lets talk about something relevant like what Carly said about Boxers hair, so the public is properly distracted from what we are doing.

If I were a journalist I would look that old crustacean Dingell in the eye and ask him to elaborate on what he meant by controlling the people, and would stay on that message until I had bled the well dry. That statement is serious. It should not be treated as a Hennie Youngman one liner.

Watch for a declaration of bankruptcy from BP.Otrauma has added everything down to postage stamps for losses declared by just about everyone with sand in their shoes.It has all been planned out by BP BO and Insurance Co,s.I call this scheme “The Raping Of America”Hope I am wrong but These are big time international CROOKS.
__________________________

The more I think about it, the more this oil spill has the smell of Soros all over it and the fact that the UK was the indirect target of substantial portfolio losses of their pension funds. The UK op ed I posted at 2:41 today gives every indication the backlash cometh for clown dog Obama. It would be interesting if Soros cashed in his BP stock prior to April 20th. Perhaps someone with the expertise can track down Soros holdings and find out if in fact a recent sale of BP stock took place.

1.) Hayward cashes out most of his BP stock holdings worth over $1M and pays off his mansion’s mortgage March 14th.

2.) Goldman Sachs and several other big investment houses like Fidelity, cash out between 40% to 60% of their BP stock March 31st Value anywhere from $5M to $60M.

3.) Three weeks later on Tuesday April 20 News broke that an explosion occurred at 11 p.m. EST on BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, 52 miles southeast of the Louisiana port of Venice. According to the Coast Guard, 11 to 15 crew members were reported missing, of the total 126 workers aboard the rig at the time of the blast. The rig was drilling, but not in production.

4.) Follow the MONEY- Anyone in this international loop cashing out BP stock prior to April 20th is suspect.

Just saw Gov. Bobby Jindal on TV, the poor man looks like he has been put through the ringer, looks like he is living down there, desperately trying to do everything he can possibly do to help save the LA coastline.

He just looks so exhausted. You know, I like this man, he had been yelling for resources within days of this rig explosion, and no one played attention. I read he had his parish plan ready within 10 days, and of course Mr. Messaih cannot be bothered, too many fundraisers, too many concerts.

I wonder of Mr. Messaih will have any fundraisers anymore while the oil spill is continuing?

Mrs. Smith, Ohblowme, tim,
Its just too damn convenient that everyone who’s anyone cashed in their BP stock prior to the blow out. They did this, that why they don’t want anyone down there inspecting the wreckage…they will know it was done on purpose.

I am just sick about those animals. The leftie’s are too conveniently quiet…its not about trying to save Obama, its about covering up the crime. The republicans that are saying the Gulf will clean itself are probably in on it.

confloyd- you are the crack investigator on Soros. Can you find out if he sold any of his held stock on BP under one of his many conglomerate names just before the oil spill? If he did, then we know for sure this was a set up just like 9/11.

The only thing yellow about Hillary was that jacket she wore, the one that is bee-like. “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.” The difference is, this bee lives to sting and sting again.
______________________

The Bumble-Bee classic! I’m reminded, left to right, Sen Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) sitting in the front row (behind her) in support of Hillary’s famous declarations.

Hillary’s words are amazing and proving themselves cast in stone becoming more relevant in the present. Her words ring true every single day that goes by having this Louis XVI, Bon-Vivant standing with his Marie, let them eat cake, by his side running our country into the ground.

I believe history will categorize this president within the paradigm of Louis XVI, Czar Nicolas and Richard Nixon all rolled into one and label him ‘monster’.

Mrs. Smith, I can’t remember the website I used to find out all the goodies. It seemed to me that it was guru..something. I shoulda bookmarked everything or something. Muckety isn’t helping much anymore. I just wish we could find out who sits on the board. I do know that some guy in Switzerland or one of those Soros socialist utopia’s are where some of the directors are from.

How the police can seize your stuff when you have not been proven guilty of anything

Six years ago, [Mr. Ali] sold a Chevy Silverado to a man who agreed to pay for it in instalments. Before the truck was paid off, the buyer was arrested for drunken driving. It was his third such arrest, so he was sent to prison and the police seized the truck. Mr Ali applied to get it back. He pointed out that he still held title to the vehicle, and that since the buyer had stopped making payments on it, he was entitled to reclaim it. But the government refused.

In most states the police can seize property they suspect has been used to commit a crime. Under “civil asset forfeiture” laws, they typically do not have to prove “beyond a reasonable doubt” that a crime was committed, or even charge anyone with an offence.

What is more, the money raised by auctioning seized houses, boats and cars is often used to boost the budgets of the police department that did the seizing. That can mean fancier patrol cars, badass hardware or simply keeping the budget plump in lean times.
[….]
An owner can usually challenge a seizure by arguing that he did not know his property was being used for criminal purposes. But in 38 out of 50 states, the burden of proof is on him to prove his innocence.

In February Texas demanded to know from Mr Ali whether he had asked the buyer about his previous arrests for drunk driving—as if that were a car dealer’s responsibility. It also demanded a sheaf of irrelevant documents, such as Mr Ali’s bank and tax records for the past two years. Mr Ali’s lawyer, Scott Bullock, argues that this is “clearly designed to intimidate” Mr Ali into giving up. Instead, he is suing to have the Texas civil asset forfeiture law struck down.

Civil and criminal asset forfeiture laws are often confused. Criminal forfeiture involves proven criminals. A convicted bank robber may lose his getaway car; a money-launderer may lose the house he bought with his illicit profits. Civil forfeiture is different. No conviction is necessary. If the government suspects that property has been used in the commission of a crime, it files an action against the property itself. This leads to odd case names, such as State of Texas v One 2004 Chevrolet Silverado (Mr Ali’s case) and United States v $10,500.
[….]
Total federal seizures have exploded from $400m in 2001 to $1.3 billion in 2008.

It’s been my contention for a very long time Oil should be outlawed from this country if for nothing else for environmental reasons. Oil is neither friendly to man or beast. Oil is a poisonous substance that doesn’t belong anywhere near the earth’s surface. Oil needs to remain sequestered below the surface of the earth where it belongs.

Now that science and technology have made advancements into creating clean burning bio-fuels out of almost any type of cheap vegetative, renewable, resources such as bamboo, corn stalks, sugar cane, sea algae, horse and cow manure…. the list is endless.

Why are we going to remain enslaved in permanency tied to the use of Trust Fund babies petroleum products?

This article lists the movers and shakers names you are all too familiar with and how they are manipulating the energy sector with their giant investment portfolios right down to creating a new Big Wheel truck formerly run on diesel and designing and building a (natural) gas powered engine specifically for use of these trucks. (Some years ago, our local police dept changed all their vehicles over to liquid gas finding they were too expensive to run and subsequently changing back to gasoline.)

This article is a real eye opener. These people are not screaming about the oil in the gulf. They are interested in the abundance of Natural Gas sleeping beneath the gulf’s sea bed and they most likely want the oil companies and drillers out of their way. Do note in this article. Warren Buffet is a major stockholder in the chemical dispersant company that is freely using the chemical dispersant to disperse the oil although they’ve been told it is harmful to the environment.
_______________________________

Why George Soros Is Buying Westport Innovations

05/25/10

VANCOUVER, B.C. (TheStreet) — Wind and solar stocks may get most of the trading attention from alternative energy investors, but natural-gas vehicle stock plays are attracting interest from high profile investors who are in the alternative energy story for the long run.

Westport Innovations(WPRT) is one example of a natural gas vehicle play that has lined up some notable institutions among its major shareholders.

The biggest bet on Westport Innovations occurred in the first quarter, when it was revealed by Soros Fund Management, the hedge fund group of famed investor George Soros, that it had taken a stake of near-5% in Westport shares, to become the natural-gas vehicle stock’s largest shareholder.

The latest quarterly filings made by Soros and other closely watched investors, like John Paulson of Paulson & Co. and Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway(BRK.B), were revealed last week. There were plenty of energy plays from among this cadre of billionaire investors, but the Soros first quarter bet on Westport was the only stand-out bet on alternative energy.

Paulson’s first quarter moves showed a bulking up in shares of oil and mining companies, like XTO Energy(XTO) and NovaGold Resources(NG), which is nothing new for the hedge fund manager. Soros, too, has major stakes in mining companies like NovaGold and oil giants like Brazil’s Petrobras(PBR) which he was increasing in the most recent quarter

Warren Buffett, while supporting operating subsidiary MidAmerican Energy’s move into wind energy, also has the distinction of being a major shareholder in Nalco(NLC), the manufacturer of the toxic chemical dispersant that has become a point of controversy in BP’s(BP) efforts to clean up the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

[…]

The natural gas vehicle stocks received a big — albeit “iffy” — endorsement, when the climate bill recently introduced by the Senate included a provision from the T. Boone Pickens-supported Natural Gas Act to double the size of the current federal subsidy for trucking fleet operators, including the long-haul truckers and shipping companies, to purchase natural gas powered vehicles.

Stocks like Clean Energy Fuels spiked on the introduction of the climate bill. Yet given the uncertain fate of the climate bill — some analysts believe it may never see the light of “legislative passage” day in 2010 — these natural gas vehicle stocks remain extremely volatile.
___________________________

Eerie
As I was just trying to find out from friends how I could see a video posted on you tube and then transfer the item to another site legally. I was looking at repackaging and boom I get a call after midnight the day I thought about it and without really ever uttering a consideration. Scary.

Might be safer to go for the natural gas under the ocean than for the oil. If the gas got loose, it would rise up through the water and dissipate in the air, then up up and away. So say those who sell it.

Environmentalists give Obama a pass
————————————
Perhaps. But my sense is that the people like Sierra Club officials like Pope may have a different take on the way Obama mishandled this disaster than his rank and file members do. They tend to have winter homes in places like Vail, mix with the Hollywood set, like their champaign in a hot tub, and lead essentially useless lives. For them, environmentalism is honorific and decorative, and the only thing they worry about is losing their place in the long White House cocktail line. That would be unthinkable. Their members however have a fundamentally different reaction to the catastrophe which demigod obama hath wrought. Their view of his heroic inaction will tend to conform to the views of Jane Hampshire of Firedog Lake who has no qualms about pinning the tail where it belongs, namely on President Jackass.

Proof that donating to any of the environmental organizations is a waste of money. I REALLY want to know where the Hollywood elite is on this. Pierce Brosnan put out a PSA asking why Obumbles is allowing whaling. Where are the rest of them? I guess we can get a quote from one of them at one of the MANY parties the White House hosts…..

The way the so-called “leaders” of environmental are goign to break up their own groups reminds me of the way the Obama-lovers helped drive out centrist Dems and Hillar supporters out of the Democratic party, some of them permanently.

I am going to get in the face of every liberal moran who has participated in the never ending gang rape of Sarah Palin and rub their face in the fact that SHE held big oil by the balls in Alaska and SHE purged the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commision on which she served, of corrupt chair people who serevd the Oil companies not their constiuents. Sarah Palin took on the most powerful men in her own party to clean out the trash poiticians in the AOGCC. She resigned from her position on the AOGCC because they put a gag order on her after she exposed the coruption, and she perfered to speak out.
Sarah Palinin a true enviromentalist. The liberal nut jobs look to the most glutenous piggies on the planet and believe that they will be the ones to GREEN the planet. I bet those BP-Beyond petrolium, green washer ads that we tax payes payed for, brout tears to the eyes of these Palin bashers. God forgive me for ever having been a democrat. Their ignorance knows no boundries.

TheRock
June 13th, 2010 at 1:58 am
————————
You are right of course. And it gets very discouraging. If a lobbying organization is domiciled inside the beltway then it will eventually lose touch with its members and become a power player in the Washington DC establishment. At that point, those leaders crave acceptance and advancement in that power structure. The phenomenon is depicted in the old Rockford Files episode where the worldly wise bartender studies a room full of big shots and says there are three types of people–lions, tigers and misc. The lions are the ones who control the chess board, the tigers are the ones who want to become lions, but the lions make a game out of luring them in then pushing them out. And the third category is rookies who are sometimes used as pawns or foils in such schemes. And rarely, a lion who lacks an heir will adopt one of those rookies as his successor. An example of this was scumbag Ted Kennedy whom lacked a legitimate heir (obviously not Patrick) and therefore adopted Obama, who has proven himself to be the greatest disaster this country has ever known.

hat has been a thorn in my side since the election. If women and the major women’s groups supported Hillary the way blacks supported Obumbles, we would be living in a different world today…..
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That is quite true. However, sticking with the blacks for a moment, some realized that Obama lacked a true civil rights experience, so in that sense he was not one of them. They also realized that he was stepping into the most difficult job in the world, and that his inexperience would weigh heavily against him and if he failed it could be highly detrimental to future black candidates. But the vast majority of blacks embraced him unconditionally, and have not experienced the nirvana he promised and they were anticipating.

The way the so-called “leaders” of environmental are goign to break up their own groups reminds me of the way the Obama-lovers helped drive out centrist Dems and Hillar supporters out of the Democratic party, some of them permanently.
——————————————————
Correct. Do you remember Howard Dean’s comment that the Republicans are the “white peoples party”? The clear implications are two fold. First, literally, it says that blacks are not at home in the Republican Party. That notion is belied by the fact that record numbers of blacks are registering to run in 2010 as Republicans. Second, the negative implication is that the Democratic Party under Obama is no home for white people, and over the course of time only the truly stupid or self loathing whites will remain in its ranks because it has become increasingly anti white in its orientation. A North Carolina party leader told his constituents to never vote for a white official. And it is now the official policy of the DNC to impute racist motives to anyone black or white who opposes Obama. Simply put, the Democratic Party under Obama is openly and notoriously racist. And over time that will prove to be its undoing.

confloyd
June 12th, 2010 at 6:29 pm
I am downright scared that they are going to and have planned to kill the Gulf of Mexico. Its apparent they don’t like southerners.
This leak isn’t like the others, this is one big mfing leak. I don’t think there going to stop it.

==============

I don’t wear enough tinfoil to think this was planned in advance. However it may not have been long before some BP bean-counters noticed that there would be advantages to letting portions of the Gulf be damaged beyond repair, becoming a lost cause, not worth defending in future (as someone said happened in Appalachia).

Especially if it’s true that under current law the oil company only has to pay the first $75 million in damages (from any one rig accident I presume).

I know. I never believed in him. I voted for McCain because I’ve always been scared of what he would do with power in his hands. I was called an Uncle Tom by my friends, and a racist by white people. My family questioned my allegiance. And you know what? I haven’t failed to remind them all daily that he is messing things up in the most horrible way. The long term ramifications are devastating and this is becoming more and more apparent. Slowly and grudginly they are coming around…..

Molly Richards was one of the most active commentors on this site during the primary. There came a point where she was contacted by Bonnie Erbe at US News Report about rampant election fraud in the Washington caucuses. As a result, the Obama forces targeted her. She was viciously attacked by someone named Paul Rogat Leob who purports to be an “Affiliate Scholar at the Seattle Center for Ethical Leadership”. I wrote a rebuttal for her–that is how I remember his name.

I was over at Common Dreams tonight and deja vu Paul Rogat Leob. http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/06/11 Like Nightmare on Elm Street he is back–in all his glory in an article entitled +Why The Arkansas Primary Was Worth It”. This guy is a muddled thinker, and an ideologue, so it is hardly surprising that he would claim among other things that Lincoln’s threat to veto Obama care was what killed the public option, when in fact Obama did that piece of dirty work all by himself in secret meetings with the industry. Do you really believe that Paul Rogat Leob does not know that.

Here are a few comments of people who are disgusted with the prevarications of Paul Rogat Leob of the estimable world renowned Seattle Institute for Ethical Leadership which nobody has ever heard of. On the odds, it is an Obama shell corporation.

1. I am sorry Paul but I cannot tolerate a Democratic Party that cannot and will not do even the simplest of tasks for the ordinary working Americans. You try to sound like you are speaking from both the heart and mind but your mind is in denial mode and that is understandable. Surely, you cannot have confidence in the Democratic Party no matter how you try to evade that sad feeling. Paul, it is ok to be disgusted with the Democratic Party from the bottom of one’s own heart. Please listen to your heart some more and try to understand why the Democratic Party is deceiving you. I am ready to vote Green for the first time in my life. Judge not a pol by its labels but by its actions.

2. This is why I gave up on Loeb a long time ago. He is still stuck in the past, blaming 3rd parties for ‘spoiling’ election results – despite OVERWHELMING evidence that voting fraud is now SOP. Well, I’m sorry, but if I have to vote (and even as a conservative, I’m questioning that waste of time) – I’m not going to vote for EITHER the next Stalin or the next Hitler. I want my conscience clear when this whole mess erupts into the inevitable catastrophe that is already unfolding in this country. Voting for fascists – from either party – is a vote FOR tyranny – a vote for fascism – a vote for the end of life as we know it. May the gods help our children – and maybe someday forgive us for what we’ve done.

3. PaulLoeb June 11th, 2010 9:46 pm: For Arkansas a contrast to Lincoln’s threat to filibuster health care reform (which moved it to the right and help kill a public option), to oppose the Employee Free Choice Act (which gives a shot at union organizing in the South, better on using federal resources to combat unemployment, and actually did funnel money toward access to education. And until Lincoln’s last minute conversion better on financial reform.

My dream candidate? No way. But my dream candidate won’t come close in Arkansas. The effort worked or not as part of a larger project to pressure the most rightwing Democrats to stop blocking their more progressive peers–who themselves have to be moved in a more progressive direction. That’s it’s purpose.

4. Visiting Professor June 12th, 2010 2:27 pm: It is very misleading to say that “Lincoln’s threat to filibuster health care reform…moved it to the right and helped kill a public option…”

No. It has been revealed that Obama made a deal with the health insurance and pharmaceutical companies to prevent a public option from being part of his final bill. The so-called threats to filibuster simply provided cover for Obama to do his dirty work against the public.

Paul, I wish you would stop twisting facts and logic to conform to your pre-conceived view of U.S. politics.

You are just focusing on the theater of our political system, with its false conflict between the Democrats and Republicans. When you respond to the theater as if it’s real, you help insure that the show will go on. That is what has raised the concerns of so many CD commenters here.

I am still hopeful that you will reply to my lengthy comments in this thread, as I spent over two hours compiling them for you.

4. Loeb is an idiot and we should reject this idiot’s illogic.

‘We can run third party challenges, but that will likely elect more right wing Republicans.”

‘Third Party challenges’ should be principally done outside the fraudulent system of ‘votes’ set up by the 2 party dictatorship. Build a Movement that tears down this pseudo democracy we now have! That Movement gets built outside of just running ‘candidates’.

5. Obedient Servant June 11th, 2010 2:28 pm: Sorry, I can’t buy into the idea that failed primary challenges substantially influence “the debate”, and function like the proverbial pebbles or drops of water that are precursors to avalanches and waterfalls. Or slipstreams that can eventually change the course of the entire riverbed.

I may be blinded by my biases: I have a deep-seated aversion to the grand political strategies and horse-race handicapping of the “inside-politics” perspective, aka Conventional Wisdom. Perhaps it amounts to willful obtuseness.

I also instinctively resist and cordially despise the dogmatic optimism that makes “half-full” silk purses out of sow’s ears, if you’ll pardon the mixed metaphor.

One reason I can’t be sanguine about the efficacy of incremental change on a geological time-scale is that IMO, quintessentially conventional-wisdom partisan politics are a self-sealing intellectual/epistemological trap.

Much is made of the prospect that the failed challenge “got their attention”– “they” including the politicians, their handlers and party officials, and the general public. The claim is that the defeat highlights hitherto-ignored, suppressed, or rejected issues and constituencies, and that this new attention empowers the out-groups and out-ideas.

And sure, in the post-primary short term it behooves the victor to graciously reach out to the loser(s) as part of the “unity” phase– on the presidential level, for instance, they patronized the losers straight into the Veal Pen.

But I don’t see that these superficial adjustments translate into a cumulative, enduring political “undertow” current.

If Lincoln wins the November election, the CW will reduce the primary challenge to a forgettable fluke– a marginal challenge from the disaffected “left” with Halter dismissed as a Ned Lamont wannabe.

I don’t see how progressives/liberals/leftists get traction or momentum from this outcome. As with the “Veal Pen”, it’s far more typical for the dominant, monolithic, powerful party organization to absorb and assimilate “maverick” constituencies for the purposes of exploiting and controlling them.

If Lincoln loses the election, the CW will probably blame anti-incumbent blowback. But apart from that, would a Lincoln loss give the losing candidate or the party incentive to warm up to the above awkwardly-cited “leftish” constituencies?

I know I’m all over the metaphorical map here, but we anti-wonks can only discuss wonky matters indirectly. So to put it another way– if a campaign runs out of gas and doesn’t cross the finish line first, will candidates and party officials REALLY draw the deep conclusion that more attention needs to be given to tapping “alternative energy sources”?

They might, but only if the pols and party pooh-bahs alike are wise, thoughtful, flexible planners resolved to transcend the deeply-entrenched status quo of corporate symbiosis, and willing to take risks and incur short-term setbacks to return the political process to a more wholesome footing– true reformers and rebuilders, that is.

But remember: victory vindicates. So if a Republican wins, regardless of the anti-incumbency factor, the machiavellian lemmings in charge of the Democratic Party will seek to fine-tune the next campaign by ensuring that the candidate is more Republican-voter-friendly. The CW will cheerfully throw away the bathwater and “outsider” soap with the losing baby.

I don’t see how the Democrats become less Republican, or that the primary challenges will inevitably persuade the Democrats to respect, not to say woo, progressive candidates and constituencies.

wbboei,
So what did Mr. Paul Loeb say about our dying dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico???

Turndown,
I am sorry you don’t think the elites would bring something down to make thing happen the way they would like, but why and how did so many folk suddenly sell their BP stock when it wasn’t losing money at the beginning of the money making season. Gas prices go up in the summer so why would you sell your stock just before it would go up unless you knew something might happen. Yet they put Martha in jail for insider trading…its done everyday.

Julilette said:
[Palin] held big oil by the balls in Alaska and SHE purged the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commision on which she served, of corrupt chair people who serevd the Oil companies not their constiuents.

=============================

Money-wise, yes. But do you have any details about her putting safety regulations on them for environmental reasons?

turndown, why can’t you understand that they sold their stock just before the blowout…they sold millions of dollars of their stock BEFORE the blowout. The blowout was APR 21st, they sold their stock March 31st.

David Axelrod is on MEET THE PRESS defending BO and the administration’s actions…actually he’s there to divert attention on what should have been done to saying BO is making sure that BP “pays” the people. BO’s all about helping the people. They’ve been on it since day one.

Disgusting. Axelrod is an oily, lying, sneaky egg sucking dog! He says BO has made such great progress in the economy since he has taken office.

Yes, indeed, as my great grandma used to say, “Once an egg sucking dog, always an egg sucking dog!”

…Even a month into the calamity, Obama reiterated that “domestic oil production is an important part of our overall energy strategy.” Here, he could have noted that major accidents are inevitable in an economy as heavily dependent on oil as America’s; added that the task at hand was urgent, but technical — and that there would be plenty of time to hunt for the usual suspects after the well had been capped. Calm and cool, in other words. America would have responded in kind. But first he hesitated, and now he’s flailing — as polls show seven of 10 Americans disapprove of his handling of the matter. By declaring that he’s looking to see “whose ass I should kick,” the president is effectively admitting that he is both clueless as to what happened, and devoid of a solution apart from a bit of thuggery. It’s not a confidence-builder….
www dot nypost.com/p/news/opinion/editorials/true_gulf_goof_B98WdvSyTxFJZdDSUcf4FN

Carly Fiorina did a good job with the opposing view of Debbie Wasserman Schultz on MTP who was attacking Republicans for being in bed with Big Oil. Schultz said Obama was having to clean up the mess the Republicans made.

One of the guest said

Target a scapegoat
Assign blame
Go on attack.

Doris Kearns Goodwin said Barack Obama has done so much but the problem is that it hasn’t gotten out to the public enough yet.

She also said that the upcoming speech that BO is going to give will be one of the most important speeches, as if it will cure the situation. Does that mean that we should all get prepared for tingles runing up and down and practice screaming, YES, YES, YES?

Doris Kearns Goodwin said Barack Obama has done so much but the problem is that it hasn’t gotten out to the public enough yet.

She also said that the upcoming speech that BO is going to give will be one of the most important speeches, as if it will cure the situation. Does that mean that we should all get prepared for tingles runing up and down and practice screaming, YES, YES, YES?
________________________________________________

Yes, the dolts are victims of a “messaging problem” and a really, really REALLY great SPEECH will fix it!

I applaud all of you who can watch any of these Lame Steam Media morons, especially the Constant-Barry-Channel and National-Barry-Channel. Since 2008 I cannot watch any of them, my stomach is no longer strong enough.

“Do you remember Howard Dean’s comment that the Republicans are the “white peoples party”? The clear implications are two fold. First, literally, it says that blacks are not at home in the Republican Party. That notion is belied by the fact that record numbers of blacks are registering to run in 2010 as Republicans. Second, the negative implication is that the Democratic Party under Obama is no home for white people, and over the course of time only the truly stupid or self loathing whites will remain in its ranks because it has become increasingly anti white in its orientation. A North Carolina party leader told his constituents to never vote for a white official.”
_______________________

Good point, wbb- and an interesting dynamic to contemplate. If this is a new reality, (the evidence would lie in the actual number of blacks regestering as republican candidates) tracking the numbers of blacks winning elections as republicans. If this is a new strategy by the Axelrod camp to reelect Obama; well, we will have to get busy and fix that.

confloyd — I don’t think it was tampered by anyone, a man with a felony charge got the nomination, beating some Obama worshipper for that seat in SC, a man named Vic Rawl

The thing is, before the felony charges were made public, the DNC was happy with this outcome, becasue the opponent Vic Rawl, is a white man. So the DNC was happy that a black dude got the nomination for the SC dem senate nomination.

When the felony charges came out, that’s when that idiot Clyburn was squacking about shenaighans.

Gov. Mike Riley (R-Ala) is on State of the Union with Candy Crowley. He made the president and his response effort sound bumbbling and ineffective from the start EVEN THOUGH Candy did her best to try to shine the bulk of the blame on BP. The more I hear from competent Republican leaders, the more it seems that Obamacrats are trying to wreck the country…… What does admin say all the time? Obama is poison!!

Doris Kearns Goodwin said Barack Obama has done so much but the problem is that it hasn’t gotten out to the public enough yet.

$$$ That’s the constant refrain, from Obama, his staff, and his stooges in the media.

She also said that the upcoming speech that BO is going to give will be one of the most important speeches, as if it will cure the situation.

$$$ That’s the constant refrain, from Obama, his staff, and his stooges in the media.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
OBAMA: “I can’t believe I’m still being blamed for Topic X. After all that I have done about Topic X… Granted, the White House has given almost no input or guidance to Congress, nor put forth its own version of the bill to address Topic X. So it is obvious that we have not conveyed our subtle, hands-off, behind the scenes influence in the discussion to get other people to do something about Topic X. Therefore, another stadium sized event that will interrupt prime time shows is needed, to show how much I care about Topic X.”

wbboei,
So what did Mr. Paul Loeb say about our dying dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico???
——————————-
I am sure he would say they are the fault of Bush, BP and right wing republicans like Jesse Helms. And if someone pointed out ever so gently to this loon that Bush is no longer President, Helms has been dead for 15 years, and BP is one of Obama’s largest contributors he say something non responsive like Blanche Lincoln is responsible for the death of the public option. The prick just makes it all up as he goes along just like you would expect from an “Affiliate Scholar at the Seattle Center for Ethical Leadership”. After that he would consult the weejee board of Obama excuses Admin posted the other day, and then ask Doris Kernes Goodwin for her enlightened perspective without the benefit of a lie detector.

$$$ That’s the constant refrain, from Obama, his staff, and his stooges in the media.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
OBAMA: “I can’t believe I’m still being blamed for Topic X. After all that I have done about Topic X… Granted, the White House has given almost no input or guidance to Congress, nor put forth its own version of the bill to address Topic X. So it is obvious that we have not conveyed our subtle, hands-off, behind the scenes influence in the discussion to get other people to do something about Topic X. Therefore, another stadium sized event that will interrupt prime time shows is needed, to show how much I care about Topic X.”
________________________________

Clyburn isn’t really that bright, is he?
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No. He is dumb as a post. But what he lacks in mental acuity he makes up for in corruption. I wonder if he has any relatives left whom he has not steered public projects to. My guess is that if the Republicans take the House a few ethical charges will be flying in his direction. The mantra will be follow the yellow brick road, i.e. the (stimulus) money and it leads not to the Wizard of Oz but to the King of Corruption and former House Whip from South Carolina.

The following article reveals that there is more at stake than national pride in the fierce British reaction to Mr. Obama’s faux populist attacks on BP. As Vlad (the impaler of all things Obama, bless his heart)is that BP is owned in part by the British Government, that one dollar out of six for their pension funds comes from BP, and the Obama’s BP bashing has caused a precipitous decline in the value of their shares which threatens the British economy. So when a plagiarist like Kearns assures us that there are many wonderful things that Obama has done which we do not even know about yet, I shutter. Here is the excellent article:
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The Brits and the BP Spill

It’s BP, not British Petroleum, ever since Maggie Thatcher privatized the government’s stake in the energy giant back in the 1980s. But the stakes involve a large chunk of the UK’s national wealth, not to mention their national pride.

From Foreign Policy:

Has the BP Bashing Gone Too Far?
There has been extensive coverage in Britain of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. But now it is not the environmental damage that is the big issue; it is the economic damage to BP caused by American politicians, including the president, as they demand that BP pay for the cleanup as well as compensation, and are now demanding the company not pay its shareholders dividends. …

Influential Tory commentators have also joined in with calls for Cameron to defend BP. “I hope David Cameron has the balls to ring Obama today for ‘a full and frank discussion’ — diplomatic language for a blazing row,” writes Iain Dale, a leading Conservative columnist. Tim Montgomerie, a prominent activist who runs the site ConservativeHome, says he hopes that “behind-the-scenes channels are being used” to convey the British government’s displeasure. The Daily Telegraph’s Jeremy Warner ripped Obama for “crass populism which shows very poor statesmanship.”

Cameron is scheduled to speak by phone with Obama over the weekend, and the former British ambassador to Washington, Sir Christopher Meyer, has been on the BBC’s The World At One program arguing it is time for the new prime minister to take up BP’s cause with the U.S. president. “The survival and ultimate prosperity of BP is a vital British interest, and I think the time has come to point it out, at a senior level, to the U.S. administration,” he said. …

But the debate that has erupted in Britain is motivated by more than hurt national pride. The value of BP shares has plummeted 47 percent since April, when the rig exploded, and this is hitting British pocketbooks. Last year, around 14 percent of all dividends in the country’s leading share index, the FTSE 100, were paid by BP, and it is estimated that one pound in every six in pension funds comes from BP. So it’s not just CEO Tony Hayward whose livelihood is being threatened — it’s those of thousands of ordinary Britons, too.

Mr. Obama has made no secret of his disdain for the Brits. I’d hate to think that it has clouded his judgment in dealing with this spill.

You can add this one to the long list of perils Hillary faces if she elects to remain in her current job. I believe it has become a game of diminishing returns, and when things fall apart Obama will do what he has always done and blame others. What I am saying is there is real danger here, as illustrated by the following comment on a republican blog. Like the song says, a good gambler needs to know WHEN to hold ’em and WHEN to fold ’em.
——————————————————————
But even Obama can’t control the unintended consequences
civil_truth Sunday, June 13th at 12:22PM EDT (link)
Where their ideology fails them is when blinded by it, they fail to anticipate the rational behavior of third parties (or in some cases the behavior of their adveraries).

The Middle East right now is a prime example; their bull in the china shop is setting in motion a complete shift in the balance of power and pushing the region to the edge of a catatrophic conflict – and oblivious while remain stuck with their ideological blinders on

wbboei
June 13th, 2010 at 1:10 pm
So when a plagiarist like Kearns assures us that there are many wonderful things that Obama has done which we do not even know about yet, I shutter
________________________________________________

I applaud all of you who can watch any of these Lame Steam Media morons, especially the Constant-Barry-Channel and National-Barry-Channel. Since 2008 I cannot watch any of them, my stomach is no longer strong enough.
______________________________________________

The upcoming speech by Obama will be the call to arms for all of his propagandists from the Marcos to Talk Left to Paul Rogat Leob of the world famous Seattle Institute for Ethical Leadership to do a full throated defense of his incompetence. And of course the traitors in Big Media will join in as well. And when that happens, as surely it will, then we would do well to ignore their lies and remember how Captain Kick Ass and his goon squad fumbled the ball. The following article is instructive. If the Republicans take over Congress, thenadditional facts implicating Obama will come to light sure as night follows day.
———————————————————–
It’s 3am, the Phone is Ringing and Obama’s Asleep
By Larry Johnson on June 13, 2010 at 12:40 AM in Current Affairs

Hillary was right. Obama was not and is not ready to answer the 3am call. The evidence, especially with respect to his failure to properly manage the response to the blow out of B.P.’s Deep Horizon well, is damning. Tim Dickinson’s lays out the evidence methodically and in depth in his recent piece in Rolling Stone, The Spill, The Scandal and the President.

Dickinson makes it clear that Obama failed in every regard to even answer the damn phone. He let it ring while the oil flooded the Gulf.

Let’s review the key points:

On March 31st President Obama trotted out his plan to support drilling in the Gulf. He said, “it turns out, by the way, that oil rigs today generally don’t cause spills . . . they are technologically very advanced.” Unfortunately, Obama failed to ensure that the Department of Interior had the proper safeguards and procedures in place and that the existing regulations on the books were being enforced. He trusted the oil companies.

Before he took office Obama vowed to clean up the cronyism and corruption rampant in the Minerals Management Service of the Department of the Interior. Obama did not create the mess. The Bush Administration’s hands are filthy on this count. George W. and his band left Obama with a steaming turd. And what did Obama do when he assumed office? As Dickinson notes, “Obama left in place many of the top officials who oversaw the agency’s culture of corruption. He permitted it to rubber-stamp dangerous drilling operations by BP . . . with virtually no environmental safeguards.” He did nothing and, on the day that the head of the MMS resigned (or was fired) Obama did not have a clue what was going on. He said as much at a press conference.

Obama and his team continued the negligence of the Bush Administration. Wilkinson reports that, “MMS continued to issue categorical exclusions to companies like BP, even when they lacked the necessary permits to protect endangered species.” Moreover, Obama’s Department of Interior did not even ensure “that the MMS had a written manual–required under Interior’s own rules–for complying with environmental laws.”

Obama and his team knew from day one that the blown rig, under a worst case scenario, was spewing as much as 110,000 barrels of oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico. And what did the intrepid Captain Kick Ass Obama do? Did he mobilize a fleet of ships to start capturing the oil? Did he get on the phone to BP and demand they move immediately to prepare for a worst case scenario? Did he act as if this could be worse than the Exxon Valdez? Nope, he and the wife took off for a weekend excursion in Asheville, North Carolina to play golf and eat barbecue. And when he got back from vacation did he demand that BP give him a current status report? Nope. Instead he hosted the New York Yankees at the White House. In the ensuing weeks he glad handed with the men and women champions from the NCAA basketball tournament instead of accepting offers from other countries to provide oil skimmers. Oh, did I mention the parties and concerts? He had Sir Paul in to sing “Hey Jude.” Captain Kick Ass was just a party animal who couldn’t be bothered with the particulars of harnessing all public and private resources to fight the oil spill.

More than a week passed before Obama’s team declared the BP disaster an “Oil Spill of National Significance.” As Dickinson notes, this was “required to draw on regional resources and to appoint an incident commander to coordinate a federal response.

Who was in charge, on May 3rd of cleaning up the oil spilling into the Gulf? According to Robert Gibbs said, “the responsible party is BP.” Swell. One little problem. According to the National Oil and Hazardous Substance Pollution Contingency Plan an “oil company like BP cannot be left in charge” and the “government must direct all federal, state or private actions to clean up a spill where a discharge or threat of discharge poses a substantial threat to the public health or welfare of the United States.” Captain Kick Ass and his crew of buffoons dropped this ball and the oil continued to flow.

On May 21st the President’s vapid mouthpiece, Robert Gibbs, said that Obama lacked the authority to play anything more than a supervisory role. Obama and his team, four weeks into the disaster, were still sitting on the sidelines.

Less than a week later Obama summoned the press and announced, “I take responsibility.” He stated further, “I was wrong in my belief that the oil companies had their act together when it came to worst-case scenarios.” That, boys and girls, is known in intelligence circles as “NO SHIT ANALYSIS.”

Dickinson also reports that the Obama Administration waited six weeks before deploying its own research vessel to investigate whether or not BP’s estimates of the escaping oil were valid. SIX WEEKS!!

This is not about partisanship. This is about competence and Obama does not possess it. Please be sure to read the DIckinson piece in its entirety. He has done America a service and exposed Obama for the vacuous fraud he is.

Deep seismic cracks are forming in the keel and bulkheads of the good ship Obama, and she is starting to take on water. The pumps are beginning to falter. No order to abandon ship has been given yet, but everyone knows that is likely to happen.

Sierra Club has been around a long time and got some power. Of course the polluters would be trying to infiltrate it from long ago. I’m surprised it’s got any integrity left.

———–
This is a general statement turndown, not against what you said…

Personally I think most of the folks that have supported environmental initiatives have gotten a bad rap lately, and that the major organizations that carry their banner have been hijacked by ‘leaders’ that don’t represent their members, like NOW for women.

When PUMA women tried to tell NOW they were off track by getting behind Barry and not supporting the true feminist, Hillary, all we got back was a spam email to DONATE.

There are still real feminists out there and there are still real environmentalists, don’t judge a book by it’s cover.

I am sure there are real enviromentalist’s actually working down on the coast. I bet some are probably washing the birds…I just wish there was more we could do about the dolphins and the fish….its sickening.
The right used to practice that God gave us this earth to take care of and hold it sacred as a gift from God, now the right in all their wisdom believes because of the special walk with God they deserve all the riches that this earth can bestowe on them so they desacrate the earth in their quest for making money. The lefties just want to run everything and care nothing about God, Earth or anything else. In their sick little minds they are searching for utopia and haven’t yet figured out that only God offers that. They think they can build it, they think that if everyone just starts acting nice to each the sky will open and the light will shine down and utopia will be born. MEANWHILE THE FISH ARE DYING!

Now that BarryCakes is the False Profit of the Democratic party, pay to play with Big Oil, we see all of them diddle with this oil gusher while stuffing their pockets with as much payola as they can.

Barry turned his head and yelled, ‘Drill Baby, drill’ as a payback for big oil money to get him in the Oval Office. Big Oil doesn’t want to stop the gusher, they want to collect as much of the oil themselves to make money. Neither cares about the fish and animals they are killing…………………..

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair will serve as keynote speaker at the Voices of September 11th third annual “Always Remember Benefit,” to be held Monday in New York City. Blair will join Chappaqua, N.Y., resident and former president Bill Clinton, the event’s honorary chairman at the gala, which will feature a cocktail reception, silent auction and a performance by legendary folk artist and activist Peter Yarrow of the famed folk group “Peter, Paul and Mary.” Voices was co-founded by 9/11 family members Mary Fetchet, of New Canaan, and Beverly Eckert, of Stamford, following the terrorist attacks, and benefits the 9/11 Living Memorial Project, which chronicles the nearly 3,000 lives lost as well as documentation of rescue workers and survivors. The gala will be held in downtown Manhattan with the exact location provided upon registration. For more information or to make a reservation, call 203-966-3911 or go to http://www.voicesofsept11.org.

The biggest political surprises often hide in plain sight. President Obama might be planning one because his re-election could hinge on it. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would be at the heart of this blockbuster. Here’s how and why it could happen.

Step one may come in a year or so when Defense Secretary Robert Gates retires as clouds darken over Afghanistan and possibly Iraq, and brawls erupt over cutting military spending. Mr. Gates has given Mr. Obama credibility on national security, which was why he was asked to stay at the Pentagon after the 2008 election.

But there were other reasons. While Democrats knew they lacked public trust on national security, they couldn’t scrape up a plausible Democrat for the job. Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, a former career military man, was a candidate but reportedly declined the honor. The White House would find itself in the same pickle after Mr. Gates’s departure, with no Democrat commanding the necessary bipartisan stature.

That is, no one except Hillary Clinton. Politically, no Democrat is better positioned. She has established herself as right of center or near conservative on national security. With Mr. Gates gone, Mr. Obama would need political cover, and Mrs. Clinton has the necessary hard-line standing in the country and in Congress. She’d give him more political protection for tough decisions on Afghanistan, for example, than would any other Democrat.

She also has terrific relations with the military brass, including Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and retired generals like the highly respected Army four-star Jack Keane. She knows defense issues from her days on the Senate Armed Services Committee. The Senate would approve her in two days.

Her position at State could be readily filled by Chuck Hagel. The former Republican senator from Nebraska is generally aligned on foreign policy with Mr. Obama, perhaps more so than Mrs. Clinton herself. His confirmation would be easy. And removing this modest, no-fuss politician later on, if Mr. Obama wanted someone else at Foggy Bottom, would not make waves.

Why would Mrs. Clinton leave the most senior and most prestigious cabinet post for Defense? The most obvious part of the answer is because, while two women secretaries have preceded her at State, she would be the first female defense secretary. She’d like that. And as a former secretary of state and defense, she’d transform herself into something very special in American politics—the only person other than Gen. George C. Marshall to hold both posts.

As the 2012 presidential campaign approached, Mr. Obama could drop another bombshell and announce Mrs. Clinton as his vice-presidential running mate. He would wait until the last minute to see just how badly he needed her on the ticket, but the choice would have obvious advantages.

Most of the voters who’d choose Mr. Obama would do so with or without Mrs. Clinton. But her vote-getting appeal, especially among swing women voters, far exceeds Joe Biden’s. A December 2009 Gallup Poll of women most admired by Americans shows Hillary Clinton besting Oprah Winfrey, Sarah Palin, Michelle Obama and Condoleezza Rice. This popularity among women is not of recent vintage; she’s been No. 1 14 times since 1993. For good measure, Mrs. Clinton’s job approval as secretary of state reached 77% in a Jan. 14-17 CBS News Poll.

Above all other Democrats, Hillary Clinton could help a drooping Obama win in 2012. She seems well aware of this and keeps building, even now, her political indispensability for Mr. Obama. Recently, she’s been defending presidential policies not only on foreign policy, but on the economy, health care, and other matters. It’s quite unusual for a secretary of state to reach beyond international issues and delve into domestic politics directly. Husband Bill Clinton also has been performing ever increasing services for the White House in places like Pennsylvania and Arkansas, where intraparty contests could weaken election prospects for Democrats necessary to maintain their majorities in Congress.

Surely, the Clintons want the White House for Hillary. And Mr. Obama may reckon that furthering her future ambitions is the best path to his own re-election. If he wins, Mrs. Clinton can run for president in 2016, when she’d be 69. And if Mr. Obama loses in 2012, she could still run for president in 2016.

To sweeten the story, if Mrs. Clinton were to become vice president in the second term, Mr. Obama almost certainly would select Joe Biden as his secretary of state. His position at State would be a fitting capstone to an impressive career in public service.

Shadowfax, I think I said that in my rant…its all about money and the destruction of our Gulf of Mexico for whatever reason fits that particular side of the political spectrum.

I commented over at tm and mentioned that I was Catholic, most here know that, and never had trouble with it here, but TM had to post a pic of nature/park and said that was her GOD.. It each his own, but believe me we are the caretaker of those animals dying out there and I don’t give a crap about the freaking beaches for the capitalists to make money off of…I strictly care about the animals….afterall…they can’t sue BP because of their enviroment their freaking enviroment was destroyed by GREED/apathy or particular agenda!

Shadowfax, I read somewhere that there has been more drilling in the Gulf under Obama than when Bush was POTUS. I like that, but I’d thought the numbskull would have checked out the MMS under Bush first before allowing all that drilling. Don’t get me wrong, I am for drilling in the Gulf…SAFE drilling! I am also for drilling in Alaska…I sound like a republican…LOL!

Drilling in the Gulf always slows down when the republicans in because they are in bed with the Saudi’s, at least they used to be, don’t think they are now since 9/11.

Hillary for Defense?
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Jeeze, seems as though the right and left think Hillary should hold every position of power except President. How to keep her working herself to the bone, flying all over the planet, or behind a robe as a supreme……….so she won’t challenge the person that is making as much of a joke of being President as Bush did.

Hillary, don’t accept any job from Obama in 2012, you are ready, you are needed.

confloyd said:
The blowout was APR 21st, they sold their stock March 31st.

=========================

If the company was in financial trouble in March, that could cause BOTH effects. The insiders bailed becausethey knew about the financial trouble. Safety was neglected because of the financial trouble.

I’m not saying this happened; just that it is another way to explain the timing.

JanH
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Gelb is late to the party. This was precisely the speculation I was engaging in a few weeks ago. He is an Obama worshipper. This is not the first time has worried about Obama’s lack of leadership and future electability. What better way to achieve that goal than to suggest a scheme which would enhance his prospects for re election at Hillary’s expense.

Here are some of the reasons why this is implausible.

1. first, if Obama is so weak in the polls that he needs her on his ticket, then her supporters will want her to run against him in the primary.

2. second, if she goes on the ticket, her supporters will not support that ticket because the man at the top of the ticket is doing irreparable damage to the country. Hillary would not bring in a new demographic and 2016 is a pipe dream.

3. third, there is such a thing as guilt by association, and she must weigh that point with great care before she decides whether to resign or to dig in deeper.

4. fourth, contrary to popular belief Hillary is a very cautious individual who is inclined to test the water carefully before she jumps in. The Gelb strategy is fine from a speculative standpoint, and you can be sure that if he says it then it has the backing of factions on the Council. But from her standpoint it does not make sense.

Gelb adds nothing to my analysis, save this. He is in the tank for Obama and this is not the first time he has worried about whether he has the stuff.

What he does not see is that if Hillary lowers herself to run as his vic

BO and his admin: use this disaster to ramp up support from misguided folks/groups on his new energy policy and especially cap/trade clause. Hire more people to lessen unemployment…and more important get more money from large corp.

BP execs: legal and corp gov limits on financial settlements
BP employees worldwide: jobs, salaries and share price concerns; however I will give some of their engineering folks some credit to keep on trying to stop a gusher AFTER the fact for some ingenuity….as told by the world all over they and they are only ones who can stop/lessen the flow this gusher

Middle east/South America/Africa: sitting it out until they can ramp up or down their oil production to take advantage of thi sgulf disaster.

China/India: waiting to get in the oil production arena big time without having to deal with these issues.

Academia: Waiting for more funds to do more research and write white papers… There is a school in texas just for dealing with oil spills!!!!!

We are so screwed….

And on top of this Canada is allowing more deep water drilling off Newfoundland….even deeper than the one in the gulf…so what are we missing; now even Italy is saying yes to deep water drilling offf their coasts?

My overriding sense is that this idea of secretary of defense then vice president are not Obama decisions. They come from factions of the Council–some of whom are the same people who are invested in this Obamaclown and were instrumental in denying her the nomination in 2008.

That’s the problem, safe drilling in the gulf. Turns out, it never was safe since BP admits that they don’t know how to plug the hole. So far, if a part like the whateverit’s called, didn’t break, everyone said drilling was safe. Out of all the rigs in the gulf, this is the first one that make a major disaster, but all it takes is ONE breaking, to make this happen.

The oil companies have lied to us, telling us it is safe when they have no way to repair the damage a mile down in the water.

Some want to blame it on environmentalists for not letting them have freakin’ drilling pumps in shallow water. Yea, how cool. Let’s all vacation or live by the beautiful coastlines of Calif., Hawaii, East coast and see the huge rigs, disasters, tankers spilling.

Sounds okay for those that do not have to live there, or see their wildlife and beauty destroyed. Big Oil can go to hell. Drill in the desert, where the lizards roam…………drill in Hannity’s backyard, Bush’s backyard, in MO’s toxic garden. They are safe places to drill that will not kill everything in sight.

The president may also want her for veep to rally the base in 2012.
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This is delusional crap. The white middle class is gone as long as Obama is there. This is not a re-election strategy as much as it is a realization by the elites that the democratic party is breaking apart along racial and economic lines, and the only way it can be stopped is if Hillary and Bill seize control of the party. If they subordinate themselves to him then they are apt to suffer the same fate as he does in the eyes to most Americans. And her presence will not be acceptable to the Dean group who are more invested in Hillary hate than the right wing was, or at least as much. In sum, Gelb’s hypothesis is a fools errand. But it does open the door for an interesting discussion about whether Obama should resign, or accept second banana position.

…Even a month into the calamity, Obama reiterated that “domestic oil production is an important part of our overall energy strategy.” Here, he could have noted that major accidents are inevitable in an economy as heavily dependent on oil as America’s; added that the task at hand was urgent, but technical — and that there would be plenty of time to hunt for the usual suspects after the well had been capped. Calm and cool, in other words. America would have responded in kind. But first he hesitated, and now he’s flailing — as polls show seven of 10 Americans disapprove of his handling of the matter. By declaring that he’s looking to see “whose ass I should kick,” the president is effectively admitting that he is both clueless as to what happened, and devoid of a solution apart from a bit of thuggery. It’s not a confidence-builder….
www dot nypost.com/p/news/opinion/editorials/true_gulf_goof_B98WdvSyTxFJZdDSUcf4FN

My overriding sense is that this idea of secretary of defense then vice president are not Obama decisions. They come from factions of the Council–some of whom are the same people who are invested in this Obamaclown and were instrumental in denying her the nomination in 2008.
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I agree and think these clowns come from both sides of the isle.
Nothing scares the Republican’s and the Obamacrats more than the thought of running against Hillary for President.

I would think this would have the opposite effect from what the columnist described in that it would indicate to voters that the Democratic party knows Obama is doomed to lose unless some stunt is pulled.

On a different vein I found this article on the net today. The author thinks Bill Clinton’s helping Obama with the upcoming midterm elections is good strategy for Bill and bad for the President:

I would think this would have the opposite effect from what the columnist described in that it would indicate to voters that the Democratic party knows Obama is doomed to lose unless some stunt is pulled.
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Yes, it is an admission of weakness. My comment was directed toward whether the “stunt” he proposes would alter the result. I doubt very much that it would. The elites need Obama to survive so he completes the consolidation process that they started under Bush. The American People need Obama to fail for the exact same reason.

We all know they have not got the skimmers in place to clean the oil out of the water as it comes out…I wonder why they don’t…Do you think the Brit’s may want to tamper with our food supply. If we have a huge depression…people that live on the coast will always have food…but now they won’t.

Is it Prince CHarles or Prince Phillip that say the population must come down???

This is off subject but do think this could be why Bill courageously campaigned for Blanche Lincoln….In the Clinton tapes,he says he should not have allowed the republicans to talk him into getting rid of the Glass-Steagle…so it maybe that he wanted to help her because she tried to close the loophole in an the part she put together…Chris Dodd threw it out!
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Progressive Sen. Maria Cantwell Courageously Votes No on Weak Wall Street Bill
The most courageous vote yesterday in the Senate was cast by Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., who refused to let the Senate sign-off on an unnecessarily weak Wall Street reform bill. Cantwell has been trying to fix a fatal loophole in the derivatives language which prevents regulators from enforcing new rules on the secretive shadow markets that brought down AIG. So far, the Democratic leadership has sided with the banks against Cantwell.

Here’s the basic problem. When Sens. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., and Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., combined their derivatives bills in April, they cut language from Lincoln’s bill that would have made it illegal for banks to break the new derivatives regulations. As a result, the bill does a pretty good job listing activities that banks cannot engage in, but if banks simply decide not to follow the rules, regulators will not be able to crack down on them.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is opposed to lifting the naval blockade of the Gaza Strip because this would bolster Hamas, according to what he told United States President Barack Obama during their meeting at the White House Wednesday. Egypt also supports this position.

« From Anger to Action | Main
06/08/2010
A Drop in the Bucket
Last week, I saw for myself what BP’s carelessness has done to the wildlife in the Gulf. It was gut wrenching. In spite of BP’s alleged efforts to limit the access of journalists and photographers, many Americans are also seeing images from the Gulf that are haunting — oil-smothered birds, dead marine mammals, toxic sludge.

BP, of course, understands the power of such images. Perhaps that’s why they announced today that the profits from all recovered oil would go to a BP-created wildlife fund. How much money that might be, they couldn’t say.

What it tells me, though, is that BP still hasn’t learned the difference between a PR stunt and taking real responsibility. Offering the profits from recovered oil isn’t just inadequate — it’s insulting. They should pay the full cost of all the wildlife and habitat rescue and restoration. BP should also pay the full cost of the devastation they have wrought upon the economy of the Gulf Coast.

If BP genuinely cared about wildlife in the Gulf, they’d allow inspectors to measure exactly how much oil continues to gush into the Gulf’s waters, and they’d put money into a trust to finance independent scientific studies on the impact of the nearly one million gallons of toxic dispersants that have been released thus far.

If BP truly wanted to make amends to U.S. taxpayers, not only would they pick up the full cost of this recovery but they would also refuse any further government subsidies.

Finally, if BP wanted to regain the confidence of American citizens that it was not seeking to benefit from a continued cozy relationship with regulators, it would make no further political contributions to candidates. We need to separate oil and state.

When all is said and done, billions of dollars will be needed to make things right. The millions that BP makes from selling the same oil that’s killing pelicans and dolphins right now would be only a drop in that bucket.

Thats exactly what I figured, there are many animals gasping for air in an ocean of oil…it would be really sad and infuriating to see…so the oil lobby is covering it up…the dumbdown folks won’t find out.

Shadowfax, notice how Micheal Brune attacks BP but forgets to mention Barack Obama.
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True Admin, but it also does not mean that Barry is getting a free pass. Notice the mention in the post of the oil logy and political campaigns.

Personally BP is most responsible for the clean up and recovery, Barry is responsible for leadership and policy, congress is responsible for oversight and regulation…and all are bought and paid for by big Oil.

The Gelb piece really pisses me off. They keep wanting to use Hillary to prop up the fraud and want her for everything except POTUS.

If Hillary were to do such a thing , I would lose all respect for her. Hopefully she will take the position she well deserves and soon.

I listened to the morning talk shows today and the dem talking heads keep saying how the voters are really angry and feel that the political parties are not listening to them. DUH! No mention of vote suppression and stealing votes. ..Sadly. most people accept this. Not a single dem I talk to has any awareness of the corruption in the process that brought Obummer the nomination.

wbboei
June 13th, 2010 at 3:21 pm
My overriding sense is that this idea of secretary of defense then vice president are not Obama decisions. They come from factions of the Council–some of whom are the same people who are invested in this Obamaclown and were instrumental in denying her the nomination in 2008.

=====================

So what would their motive be, other than helping Obama get re-elected in 2012?

Shadowfax
June 13th, 2010 at 3:31 pm
That’s the problem, safe drilling in the gulf. Turns out, it never was safe since BP admits that they don’t know how to plug the hole. So far, if a part like the whateverit’s called, didn’t break, everyone said drilling was safe. Out of all the rigs in the gulf, this is the first one that make a major disaster, but all it takes is ONE breaking, to make this happen.
The oil companies have lied to us, telling us it is safe when they have no way to repair the damage a mile down in the water.
[….]
Drill in the desert, where the lizards roam…………drill in Hannity’s backyard, Bush’s backyard, in MO’s toxic garden. They are safe places to drill that will not kill everything in sight.

==============================

Palin wants to drill in ANWR; one of her commentators says there’s good oil to be found in the Dakotas. On land a spill would not spread as far, and would be easier to repair. Also one drilling site is very near to good transportation.

Shadowfax
June 13th, 2010 at 3:31 pm
That’s the problem, safe drilling in the gulf. Turns out, it never was safe since BP admits that they don’t know how to plug the hole. So far, if a part like the whateverit’s called, didn’t break, everyone said drilling was safe. Out of all the rigs in the gulf, this is the first one that make a major disaster, but all it takes is ONE breaking, to make this happen.
The oil companies have lied to us, telling us it is safe when they have no way to repair the damage a mile down in the water.
[….]
Drill in the desert, where the lizards roam…………drill in Hannity’s backyard, Bush’s backyard, in MO’s toxic garden. They are safe places to drill that will not kill everything in sight.

==============================

Palin wants to drill in ANWR; one of her commentators says there’s good oil to be found in the Dakotas. On land a spill would not spread as far, and would be easier to repair. Also one drilling site is very near to good transportation.

“The Gelb piece really pisses me off. They keep wanting to use Hillary to prop up the fraud and want her for everything except POTUS.”

—————

I totally agree. More and more I am wanting Hillary to get away from the gigantic mess obama has made of everything. He is wearing her out and I wonder how long anyone’s health could hold up under such work conditions.

AmericanGal
June 13th, 2010 at 3:46 pm
On Hillary as VP:
I would think this would have the opposite effect from what the columnist described in that it would indicate to voters that the Democratic party knows Obama is doomed to lose unless some stunt is pulled.

It’s not just Abbas. Egypt just closed it’s borders to Palestinian activists again and Saudi Arabia has agreed to stand down its air defences to enable Israeli jets to make a bombing raid on Iran’s nuclear facilities when/if it needs to.

It’s more than just Hamas; Palestine, Egypt and Saudi Arabia are standing against. Their actions are a direct insult to Obama; not even so much at the US. This is an unbelievable developement. And Blair is in closed door talks with Bibi. They are shutting Obama out completely!! All Good News!
_____________________________________

“On Friday, Netanyahu met with Quartet representative Tony Blair in his office. This was the third meeting between the two during the last eight days, and centered on ways of easing the blockade on the Strip.”

“Senior Israeli officials and European diplomats say there is agreement that policy on the blockade should be altered, but this should be done carefully and discretely.”

“There is agreement that no major declarations should be made so Hamas will not to be allowed to score points,” said a source familiar with the talks with Blair.”

Shadowfax
June 13th, 2010 at 5:50 pm
Personally BP is most responsible for the clean up and recovery, Barry is responsible for leadership and policy, congress is responsible for oversight and regulation…and all are bought and paid for by big Oil.
__________________________________________
The “president” is authorized to federalize to any extent he deems appropriate to execute containment and clean up; as little or as much. Just an example, he could seize US tankers, compensating the owners, equip them with whatever gizmo in his judgment would best do the job, no contract bidding, and use them to help with the clean up. That’s just an example. He could waive the Jones Act provision on an emergency basis as Bush did with Katrina.

Folks are letting jackass off the hook here by buying into the “BP’s Responsibility” meme. That’s where he gets to sell the “I can’t suck it up with a straw” – his hands are tied. They aren’t.

————-
“So why is he giving a speech on tuesday…why not after meeting with BP’s chairman on Wed….
Is it is preemptive strategy?”

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A few things come to mind. Definitely a way to plug holes in his drowning polling. He needs to show that he isn’t the weak-kneed late to the party (every time) twit of leader that he is and always will be. He wants to tell the people that he is going to kick ass and make demands aka throw a temper tantrum. He is going to make excuses, throw a few under the bus, and finally whine his way through another wasted public relations event.

I’m not sure how many votes that would lose, though.
_____________________________________________________

I think the Republicans, however, would hammer away at Hillary being there because of Obama being weak–plus all the attention and media focus still couldn’t overshadow the serious economic and world issues that will likely be at play at that time–particulary since the looming election will be bringing these issues to the forefront. I’m sure it would gain some votes–but having Hillary on the ticket wouldn’t erase all the negatives he has earned while in office. People are going to ask themselves if they want another four years of what Obama has brought them when they go to the voting booth…

Oh, and for the record, I would vote against an Obama/Clinton ticket in 2012, even if Mitt Romney were the Republican nominee. Romney is qualified to be President. Obama is not. Therefore, it would be a no-brainer.

hwc
Romney is qualified to be President. Obama is not. Therefore, it would be a no-brainer.

===================

Good point. In all our thinking about issues and policies and philsophy and strategy, we can forget that in the most important situations policy differences are small but basic competency rules.

That’s one reason why in spite of serious disagreements, I’d tend to vote for Palin over Obama, because she is a competent strong person. And she really could choose good people to delegate to where necessary.

You know as much as I have complained about the republicans and their big oil enterprise, I know GWB would be out there trying to figure out how to get that oil out of the water. They would not be using this national crisis to push thru global warming and letting the dolphins die.

Just watching Fox, Huckabee has had folks on there showing their inventions on how to soak up, suck up and separate the oil from the water and save the beaches and the animals. Is dickhead listening to these folks…hell no!
When we were bombed by the Japanese, this country pulled together and won the war…this is the American way…we rise to the problem.

Tell us the truth, how much oil is out there, what the chances of fixing it leak…Americans will figure it out…the republicans are working to figure it out…where the hell is Obama…standing with his thumb us his butt….WE can do it…we just need a different Potus…ONE THAT BELIEVES IN AMERICA and AMERICANS!

This video (ht/pumapac) gives us hope for a hopeless situation; cleaning up the oil spill safely and quickly.

“Bio-remediation The Texas Land Office and Texas Water Commission successfully used ‘oil eating’ microbes to clean up large oil spills in just weeks. Microbes hunt down and eat the toxic oil and leave only a biodegradable waste that is non-toxic to humans and marine life.”

I could NEVAH vote for Romney because his misognistic bs he has said about Hillary…I don’t care if he could fix the whole world, I would not vote for this SOB. The only way he would get my vote is if Obama/anyone except Hillary were running against him.
I put Romney on the same plane as I do Tingles.

Brazil may pick up rigs idled on moratorium * Could help the country’s offshore campaign * Deep water rigs in tight supply around the world

By Brian Ellsworth and Joshua Schneyer

RIO DE JANEIRO, June 11 (Reuters) –

Brazil could benefit from the BP Gulf of Mexico spill as a U.S. moratorium onoffshore drilling boosts available rigs for the country’s deep water oil exploration program. Even as an ecological catastrophe makes the future of U.S. offshore drilling less certain, Brazil is plowing ahead with a $220 billion five-year plan to tap oil fields even deeper than BP’s (BP.L) ill-fated Gulf well, which is still leaking crude. With an estimated 35 rigs idled in the Gulf of Mexico, Brazil is already receiving inquiries from companies looking to move their rigs here, where vast discoveries in recent years may soon turn the country into a major crude exporter. “What is bad for some may be good for others,” said Fernando Martins, Latin America Vice President for GE Oil and Gas, which provides services to drillers in Brazil. “Since operators are shutting down at least temporarily in the U.S. Gulf, some companies are planning to move their rigsto Brazil now,” he said, without offering details.

Why in the hell can’t we find a way to incarcerate that damn Soros, surely he’s broken a few international laws???

I never watch MSNBC, but had the opportunity last week for a few seconds to watch Morning Joe, Mika’s eyes, is she like the devil’s daughter or something….watch her eyes when they are talking about obama, especially when they are bringing up something not good….she absolutely looks like the devils wife.

You guys have been listening to me complain about the animals in the gulf dying…well I grew up in an area north of Corpus Christi called Port Aransas. There is a ferryboat about (6) of them that ferry cars from Aransas Pass to Port Aransas about every 8 minutes…. Port Aransas is a beautiful little tourist spot with lots of deep sea fishing boats, miles and miles of clean beach, and long, long jetties. Its a beautiful place untouched by capitalism, that mom and pop stores still dot the coast line…

The dolphins go back and forth with each ferry boat, guiding the visitors to this little place where so far has been untouched by chain restaurants, chain hotel/motels where everyone has a great time fishing, dancing, and enjoying the beach….THIS IS WHY I AM WORRYING ABOUT THE ANIMALS! There is just nothing more beautiful than dolphins guiding the boats into harbor.

“Last week, with little fanfare, among the ever deteriorating oil spill crisis, the White House quietly noted the issuance of an executive order “Establishing the National Prevention, Health Promotion, and Public Health Council”, in which the president, citing the “authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America” is now actively engaging in “lifestyle behavior modification” for American citizens that do not exhibit “healthy behavior.” ”

And the most scary part:

“(g) carry out such other activities as are determined appropriate by the President.”

This is what it is like to be Hillary Clinton. The motorcade, twisting and skidding through rain-splashed streets for more than an hour; the public meetings and camera lights at journey’s end; the spotlight that has not let up for two decades. It is almost as if the 2008 US presidential election – hailed as the most exciting for a generation – had never ended.

But this is a campaign without a vote. Today, Clinton’s convoy is snaking through São Paulo, Brazil, not South Hampton, New Hampshire. She herself is no longer an aspirant for the White House, despite what the overnight flights, town hall meetings and strategy sessions that make up her gruelling schedule might suggest. Instead, she is in Latin America to shore up relations with the region and promote a new idea of US leadership, one very much built around herself.

She’s had bigger and more ecstatic audiences than the 700-odd students and staff crammed into the hall tonight at Zumbi dos Pradares, an Afro-Brazilian university, but she’s still greeted by a wave of raised arms as the audience snaps away at her with their mobile phones.

In the convoy moments before, she was wrapped in a shawl, suffering from a cold and angry at the delays that pushed us into the side streets speckled with box-like bars, warehouses and love hotels while Brazilian motorists sought to cut into our path. There is no sign of that now. With the metabolism of a born politician, she feeds off the energy of her audience and takes questions from students, teachers and local celebrities for an hour. Hillary Clinton never looks happier than when she is centre stage.

Most US secretaries of state wouldn’t bother with this sort of event, much less initiate it and arrange for it to be screened on the biggest local channel. Yet this is what Clinton does on almost every foreign trip – and she seems to spend half her life on her official 727, crammed with long-time aides and armed bodyguards. The schedule is backbreaking and constantly shifting. She has notched up more than a quarter of a million miles since taking office.

On this Latin America trip, thrown into confusion by an earthquake in Chile, we have already visited four countries in 24 hours. We go to tiny Uruguay, where our stay is so brief we check into a hotel just for a shower; Argentina, where we spend almost all our time at the presidential palace; Chile itself, where we don’t leave the airport; and Brazil, where we spend almost a full day.

So what exactly is Clinton trying to do on this never-ending world tour? Travelling with her for a week, talking to people inside and outside the administration, I tried to find out.

“We now have a case to make and it is not just a case that is made to the president or the prime minister or the foreign minister or an ambassador,” she tells me a few weeks later, as she perches on a sofa in her expansive office, with its view of the Lincoln Memorial. “People now have a voice and an opinion and a vote in many instances on the direction that their own societies take … I want to model a different kind of leadership that is open and willing to listen but [also] to stand our ground if necessary.”

She argues that these trips of hers help to restore the US’s image in the wake of the Bush administration – by making contact with public opinion abroad, and so boosting American power. Her aides say that, as a battle-hardened politician who also happens to be one of the most famous women in the world, she is ideally placed to carry out the task. But the deeper question is whether she is merely implementing the foreign policy crafted by Barack Obama, her boss and former rival, or whether her role – and ambitions – go beyond that.

Is she a kind of saleswoman-in-chief for the US, I ask? “Well, I think that is part of the job,” she replies, toying with the napkin underneath her glass of water. “If you are making a case for American values and for American leadership, you have to make it where people now get information … Given the bridges we had to build and some of the repair work we had to do, we had to travel.”

As in São Paulo, her system is under strain – “I’ve been fighting this all day,” she says as she masks a cough set off by her allergies (Washington’s cherry blossom trees are shedding their flowers). Life is still hectic – the volcanic ash cloud has just all but paralysed Europe and televisions throughout the State Department are showing the first British election debate. But Clinton remains enthusiastic, affable and unhurried, her speech peppered with exclamations such as “oh my gosh”, even as she discusses issues of state. She politely asks if I have any updates for her about Europe’s airspace shutdown and tells me she’s been talking to Norway’s foreign minister about it.

“He said that this dust gets into engines of any size, even Air Force One – it’s chunky! I don’t know how else to describe it,” she says, an odd note of hilarity entering her voice as she pronounces the word “chunky”.

Clinton often speaks in this eager, unvarnished way – a world away from the clipped, on-message manner of her immediate predecessor in the post, Condoleezza Rice. If anything, she is an undiplomat – known less for calibrated circumlocutions than for her plain speaking and sometimes her gaffes, a woman who retains both a formidable political constituency and a laugh she once admitted can send cats scurrying from a room.

Her staff point out she is only the third elected politician in 60 years to have served as secretary of state, and the first to come from outside the foreign policy establishment since James Baker, George H.W. Bush’s right-hand man and perhaps her most illustrious recent predecessor. She may be the most substantive politician in the office since William Jennings Bryan, the three-time presidential candidate who served as secretary almost a century ago. “Her stature on the world stage, her almost presidential stature, has set her apart,” Bill Burns, the top career diplomat at the State Department, tells me. “Leaders want to meet her. And the town hall meetings do make a difference with public opinion.”

Back in São Paulo, the meeting at the university ranges far from the confines and dramatis personae of traditional diplomacy. Annie, a young woman with red and blue dreadlocked hair, tells Clinton about her dance and percussion classes and asks how to study in the US without paying college fees. A nervous young man confesses himself lost halfway through an abstruse question about tariff policy; Clinton, smiling and nodding in that vaguely automatic way of hers, bears with him all the same. Another female student asks for an autograph. When answering, Clinton sometimes opens her eyes wide as she emphasises a phrase; at other moments, seemingly at random, she pulls her hands apart as if demonstrating the size of a fish.

Then a law student called Marina asks about abortion – which is illegal in Brazil – and Clinton moves into treacherous terrain. She speaks of the Brazilian hospital she visited in the 1990s that treated not just expectant mothers but women suffering from the consequences of backstreet abortions. “Wealthy women have rights in every country,” she says. “And poor women don’t.” Her strength of feeling can’t be hidden as she denounces “the great toll that illegal abortions take and the denial of women being able to exercise such a fundamental personal right”.

Tom Shannon, the US ambassador to Brazil, tells me later: “I understand the possible concern that we might have come close to domestic issues. But she wasn’t laying out a prescription for Brazil. She was sharing her experience as a woman in American politics and as secretary of state.” It’s true: Clinton doesn’t quite cross the line. Onstage, she is controlled without seeming artificial, convivial without appearing over-effusive, what a previous age would call a real trouper. At the podium she looks straight ahead, her lips carefully expressionless. Still, the old competitive instincts haven’t left her. Perhaps it is the lecterns at press conferences, reminiscent of the Democratic presidential debates, but on exiting the podium at a joint appearance with Argentina’s president Cristina Fernández, Clinton makes clear her satisfaction at having had the last word. The expert debater who usually bested Obama has not left the stage.

Yet that competitive urge coexists with what one insider describes as her “almost inhuman loyalty” towards Obama. Her mastery of the facts – an “information carnivore” one of her officials calls her – comes despite the consensus in much of Washington that her role consists largely of implementing the foreign policy Obama and his inner circle have framed, rather than helping frame it herself.

In São Paulo, she shows her loyalty in striking fashion when she is asked repeatedly about positive discrimination – another sensitive topic in Brazil – not least because, Clinton herself observes, Afro-Brazilians account for more than half the country’s population but only 2 per cent of university students. “That suggests to me that some special steps need to be taken [in] recruiting and admitting students so that they can have a chance to succeed,” she tells the hall, again inching towards domestic politics, before speaking of her pride in the progress the US civil rights movement has made in the past half-century. She says: “The election of Barack Obama, many believe, was the greatest accomplishment of all because it demonstrated that an African-American could be elected president of the United States.”

Among the crowd, I catch my breath and scribble down her words. It’s hard to think of a more fulsome statement from the woman who fought so hard against Obama – and who squandered a huge poll lead and millions of dollars in the struggle against him.

The great collaborator Clinton has established strong working relationships within the Obama administration
When I ask Clinton later about how she managed to move from the antagonism of the primary race to the obedience of office, she dismisses my question with an anodyne “that’s politics”. She adds: “We’re working really hard and well together … It just never comes up any more, it seems like ancient history to me.” Not so ancient, I think, that she is willing to admit the failings of her campaign. “I always run inclusive and successful organisations,” she retorts when I ask her whether she’d applied any lessons from that searing experience to her new post.

She admits she didn’t want the job at State – she says she was exhausted by the election and missed the Senate – “but at the end of the day, I’m pretty old-fashioned and if the president asks you to do something, you’d better have a really good reason why you can’t.” Also, she adds: “Suppose I had won and I were asking him to be in my cabinet … I would have wanted him to say yes.”

Others say the relationship is more complex, that by dint of her loyalty and unflagging hard work, Clinton has moved closer to the charmed circle and made herself an even more formidable political force than before. “Quite simply, she gives good advice and the president over a year and a half has recognised that,” says Anne-Marie Slaughter, head of the State Department policy planning unit. “The relationship is based on her performance in the job.”

By all accounts, it’s a collaborative partnership, though not perhaps a warm one. Clinton boasts a good working relationship with the main players of the administration – and has formed something of an alliance with defence secretary Robert Gates, although on life-and-death issues such as Afghanistan, it is Gates, not her, who has taken the lead. As one official told me, secretaries of state have often either been popular with their own department – Colin Powell comes to mind – or with the rest of the administration – as was Condoleezza Rice – but Clinton has managed to be both.

In truth, Clinton’s language remains harder-edged than Obama’s – she recently claimed that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard had staged a slow-motion coup – and she has sometimes been more willing than he is to hint at using the military. “She seems to step up with a bit of spine just at the right time,” says Kurt Volker, a US ambassador to Nato under George W. Bush.

She has also assumed an ever more prominent role in talking to leaders such as Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan – apparently because she is trusted both by them and Obama. Meanwhile, she has been careful to keep her husband, the former US president, in the background. Aides say they have barely seen him in the building – though Clinton herself says that behind the scenes Bill Clinton gives her strategic advice. “One of his favourite sayings, that I remind myself of all the time, is a kind of baseball saying,” she says: “Don’t major in the minors; keep your eye on not just the headlines but the trend lines.”

It is her co-operative stance rather than any notable effort to set out a grand vision of her own that is the chief theme of her time so far at State. When I ask Clinton to name her proudest achievement in office, she replies “the effective and collaborative approach that this administration has taken towards identifying and solving problems.” A more process-oriented, less provocative answer would be hard to imagine.

But maybe, I think, the US has less scope for grand strategy than it did in the past couple of decades, when the country seemed to bestride the world colossus-style. Clinton herself suggests that so formidable are the tasks confronting the US that the administration has little scope to enter into internecine fights but needs instead to focus on the challenges to hand. Whatever the reason for her stance, it seems to be a smart decision – by all accounts she’s overcome many of the suspicions the White House retinue had towards her.

“It’s fair to say that she was not born into the administration’s inner circle but slowly but surely, for the most consequential decisions, she now has a prime seat at the table,” says one official. Praising what he calls her “Terminator-quality durability and determination,” he adds: “She’s done an amazing amount of work, judging that the way to build a strategic vision is bottom up, by mastering the details.”

Indeed, Clinton’s ability to master the most arcane foreign policy briefs is the marvel of her building. She has dropped into obscure working groups and shown an unnerving knowledge of their details. At her confirmation hearings last year she exchanged facts about the arctic with an Alaskan senator; at the meeting in São Paulo she becomes enthused about freight transport policy both in Brazil and the US. She herself acknowledges that finding her feet on foreign policy was something of a struggle, despite her campaign claims of expertise in the field. “It was so intellectually challenging, just to get our arms around all of these issues,” she says. During her first year, she was criticised for apparent gaffes – including the way she called for Israel to halt all building of settlements on occupied territory only to hail a partial freeze a few months later as unprecedented. On an election campaign, she says, “you may be in a different city four times a day but you have a message you’re trying to deliver that is repetitive and aimed at your audience. But here you might deal with 10 different countries’ problems, six different regional or global challenges in the course of a day.”

As the Latin America tour shows, she is now trying to do both – travel incessantly and solve an array of international issues. She is at the forefront of the US’s efforts to consolidate relations with a number of important countries – predominantly Russia and China, but also rising powers such as Brazil, Turkey, Indonesia and South Africa – and to cool down anti-American feeling in hotspots, notably Pakistan. She says the push is working, hailing a “change in public opinion in places that were pretty negative about the US” – a reference to Russia and Pakistan. But it is far from smooth sailing. Differences about Iran and over Israel’s raid on aid-bearing ships off Gaza have stoked tensions with Turkey and Brazil recently, amid questioning of the effectiveness of the Obama administration’s policies.

During my time with her on the road, the stop in Brazil is the focal point – not surprising given the country’s increased profile as Latin America leader. Clinton is now heading the administration’s push to secure sanctions on Iran, and in Brasilia she tries and fails to win President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to her cause. She employs an almost combative tone at a press conference with Celso Amorim, Brazil’s foreign minister. At moments she appears to barely contain her irritation, as she denounces “an Iran that runs to Brazil” as well as other countries such as Turkey and China “telling different things to different people to avoid international sanctions”. Amorim is spiky in his own way – drawing parallels to the 1990s sanctions on Iraq and the claims about weapons of mass destruction before the 2003 war. “Of course, I don’t agree with everything the Secretary said,” he says.

It is not a happy experience – indeed this past week both Brazil and Turkey voted against sanctions at the United Nations – yet Hillary Clinton is nowhere near giving up. Years ago, one of Bill Clinton’s biographers described his approach to government as a “permanent campaign”, and it appears to be his wife’s preferred form of existence as well. If there is one constant in Clinton’s life, it is that she never throws in her cards, whether what motivates her is power or public service.

“Never, never!” she exclaims, when I ask whether she ever thought of walking off into the wings after the frustrations and indignities of her time at the White House. “I have a very realistic sense of what high-stakes politics requires and it took me a while to get there because it’s shocking when you are in the arena … but once you figure it out, you can take it seriously for purposes of analysis and understanding, but you can’t take it personally.” Such treatment seems to rankle all the same. She’s been listening to coverage ahead of the British debate and is plainly irritated by the coverage of the leaders’ wives. “Whether a woman’s running for office or she’s supporting her husband who’s running for office and she gets criticised for wearing open-toed shoes or for the colour of her coat, there’s just a lot of history that you bear if you are a woman who puts herself out in the political arena,” she says.

Injustice towards women appears to be the issue that most enthuses Clinton in this job – as in her many other incarnations in American public life, whether as First Lady or before. “I feel passionately it is in not just the American national security interests but the world’s, that women be given the opportunities and the tools to make the most out of their own lives,” she says.

In the 1990s she steered clear of reading the newspapers because of the way she was treated. Today, she says, “I certainly don’t read coverage of me, I read what else is going on that I need to know about to do my job.” “It’s all baloney,” says Philippe Reines, her press adviser, who set up the meeting with her and is sitting to one side in her office.

“Yeah, yeah, right, that’s what he tells me,” Clinton responds.

I wonder. She may not read the stories about her, but she has boosted her domestic profile still further by talking to American magazines such as Esquire, Vogue and Parade. To what end? Clinton has said she will only serve one four-year term as secretary of state – understandable, given the grind of the job. When I ask whether she expects a woman president in the next decade or so, she responds: “I’d love that, obviously I would love that. I want to be front and centre when it happens.”

“Any chance it would be you?” I ask.

“No, no, I don’t think that’s in the cards,” Clinton says. She’s given more categoric denials in the past. “I think that there’s a whole generation of young women and not so young, but mature, seasoned women who are earning their stripes and recognising how tough it is out there. It is not for the faint of heart to run for president, and I believe it is harder for women, it just is, and that’s just a fact.” But, says one US official, “all the profiles and all this media treatment undercut the argument that she is finished with electoral politics. Why do all this stuff? She’s already Hillary Clinton. You have to ask: ‘What’s the idea behind raising her domestic profile still further?’”

Indeed she is now, by some counts, the most popular politician in America and some in Washington say she could be a good fit for the vice-presidential slot in the 2012 elections.

Back in São Paulo, once the town hall meeting is over, Clinton faces a seven-hour flight to Costa Rica. The journey goes on and on, and as saleswoman-in-chief for the US in an unruly world, she faces a long, hard road. Today the US sometimes struggles to assert itself on the world stage. But the obstacles are rather fewer if the product she is pitching is herself. A secretary of state like none before her, Hillary Clinton, long one of the most formidable figures in US politics, is looking stronger than ever.

David Miliband: “Hillary is a rock star … she has a great sense of fun, and a great sense of humour”

It’s too early to start chalking up a scorecard because Hillary Clinton, and the Obama administration, is laying the foundations for long-term change in America’s foreign policy. The challenges are immense – probably more difficult than the inheritance of any previous administration. But American leadership is essential and a commitment to multilateralism – in fact multi, multilateralism using different and overlapping forums – is real and right.

You also have to remember that Hillary is a rock star. When I arrived at the Nato Foreign Ministers meeting in March 2009, it was a nice surprise that all the staff, never mind the press, seemed to have turned out in droves for my arrival. Then I realised that Hillary was 10 minutes behind me.

That said, the thing that most surprised me about working with Clinton was not her intelligence or her hard work, all of which are well known, but that behind the serious exterior is someone who has a great sense of fun, and a great sense of humour. She has seen politics from all sides, and can laugh at herself as well as at others.

She’s a remarkably good listener, always synthesising ideas and opinions to develop her own. She thinks strategically as well as tactically. She’s also very, very unpompous. Hillary is a very political person but in a particular way, she honours politics and public service and believes that democratic politics is not a necessary evil, but a calling of value and vocation. She knows you win some and you lose some, but it’s essential to take part.

There’s one other thing. Hillary is a people person in that she thinks deeply about the psychology of the people she’s dealing with. Their motivation, their loyalties, their culture. It’s real emotional intelligence in trying to understand why people disagree and how you can get them to agree. I think that must be why so many other members of the administration say she is a very good colleague.

Gideon Rachman is the FT’s chief foreign affairs columnist

David Rothkopf: “When she has been asked to deliver tough messages, she has done so unflinchingly”

Hillary Clinton has been a cautious secretary of state: she has protected the president well and pursued his agenda without upstaging him – an early concern, given her stature. She has worked very well with other members of the cabinet, and is reconsidering the role and structure of the State Department.

That includes a review of the role of diplomacy going forward. Clinton has not only acknowledged the rise of new powers and a changing global power structure but has taken steps to reshape US foreign policy structure accordingly. An important part of that has been recognising the importance of co-operating with private and non-state actors such as NGOs, as well as dealing with non-state threats.

When the administration has called upon her to deliver tough messages, she has done so unflinchingly. This has allowed the president to articulate a strategic vision which Clinton then goes about implementing. Still, neither the secretary of state nor the president determines the global situation. The US may be the most powerful country in the world but it is one among many powerful countries, and many aspects of the situation we face today are beyond our control. The Obama administration has been dealt an extremely difficult hand: not only Iraq and Afghanistan, but Iran and North Korea’s nuclear programmes, the rise of emerging powers and a complex and still unfolding series of financial crises.

We have gone from a world in which the US thought it had limitless resources and unbounded options to one where the limits are clear; from a world in which you could work in the G8 to one where you have to work in the context of the G20; a world where new technologies and new powers play a bigger role. All of those things would dictate a change in foreign policy regardless of who is in office.

Hillary Clinton has established a very solid foundation. The next step is to identify a couple of signature issues – and have a couple of signature successes. That will take her to the next level.

NEW YORK, June 13 (UPI) — Former U.S. President Bill Clinton shows he still has political muscle as he aids Democrats in rough campaign battles, observers say.

Clinton demonstrated his presence is still a force by almost single-handedly saving U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas last week against an insurgent primary challenger, the New York Daily News reported Sunday.

Clinton will next head to Nevada to head a campaign rally for Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who is facing a hard battle for re-election, the newspaper said.

“The guy has definitely still got a magic touch,” U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., said of Clinton.

“About the only thing they haven’t asked him to do is don a wet suit, put a knife in his mouth and dive into the ocean to plug that oil spill,” Weiner said.

Lincoln, a longtime friend of the former president, who also hales from Arkansas, had been hit hard by anti-incumbent anger and was so far behind Arkansas Lt. Gov. Bill Halter that supporters at the White House had all but given up on her, analysts say.

“Bill Clinton went in there, he got people to calm down and think about all the things Blanche Lincoln had done for them,” Chris Lehane, a Democratic consultant and one-time Clinton White House aide, said. “He is able to relate to regular people better than anyone, and pulled it out.”

“I have a very realistic sense of what high-stakes politics requires and it took me a while to get there because it’s shocking when you are in the arena … but once you figure it out, you can take it seriously for purposes of analysis and understanding, but you can’t take it personally.”

So what would their motive be, other than helping Obama get re-elected in 2012?
——————————————————————————-
Turndown: their motive is just as you say, i.e. to help Obama get re-elected. He is their tool to create a new world order. Thus, they will do whatever they deem necessary to protect him.

Multiyear ice in the Arctic is heavily decayed and shrinking rapidly. Estimates of when we may first experience an ice-free summer in the Arctic Ocean are constantly being revised. These were the key points of Dr David Barber’s plenary talk this morning.

“Scientists spend a lot of energy discussing the ‘squiggly line’ generated by satellite data on sea ice extent,” Dr. Barber told the audience, showing a graph from the National Snow and Ice Data Center. “But extent alone does not reflect the real condition of the sea ice. I think we are all looking forward to getting reliable data on thickness from CryoSat. Because what really matters is the condition and thickness of the multiyear ice.”

“We are losing 70 000 square kilometres of sea ice every year. That adds up to 2.5 million square kilometres over the last 30 years. The reality is even worse,” continued Dr Barber. “Even though the extent of the sea ice – both the winter maximum and the summer minimum – increased in 2008 and 2009, the amount of multiyear ice continued to decline rapidly.”
It isn’t about just the extent of the sea ice, but its thickness and density. This is yet another clear signal of a warming Earth (rising ocean temperatures in general is another such signal) that has long-term consequences for, well, everything.

Her strength of feeling can’t be hidden as she denounces “the great toll that illegal abortions take and the denial of women being able to exercise such a fundamental personal right”.
— From the FT interview above

One policeman was killed and three others were injured Monday morning as Palestinians opened fire at a police car near the West Bank settlement of Beit Hagai. The officers were making their way to Hebron from the southern city of Beersheba.

The police have cleared for publication the name of the policeman killed in a shooting attack south of Hebron: The killed officer was identified as Command Sergeant Major Yehoshua (Shuki) Sofer, 39, who had served in the Hebron region for 14 years.

Massive security and rescue forces were dispatched to the area. According to the Magen David Adom emergency service, two of the policemen were shot in the chest and stomach. One was critically injured and died of his wounds after reaching the hospital.

The other policeman shot in the chest was said to be in moderate condition. Another was lightly injured from gunshots, and the fourth policeman was hurt by shrapnel.

A helicopter was dispatched to the area to help evacuate the injured to the Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem and the Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba.

Police and army forces were combing the area in search of the shooters, and were checking whether the police car was ambushed or fired on from a passing vehicle. The Israel Defense Forces instructed residents of the nearby settlements, Otniel and Beit Hagai, to remain inside their homes until the end of the search.

The shooting took place near the al-Fawar junction located about 10 kilometers (6 miles) southwest of the Jewish settlement of Kiryat Arba. Hebron’s Palestinian residents reported that the IDF had set up roadblocks and was searching all villages near Road 60.

‘I heard screaming and gunshots’
Command Sergeant Major Mordechai Danon, who was moderately injured in the attack, said he hoped to return to work on Tuesday.

“I wasn’t afraid. What is fear? I know no such thing. I tried to help my friend, and the unfortunate thing is that you can’t see them (the terrorists) and can’t respond at the same moment.”

Recounting the incident, he said, “I was looking for my gun. I tried to pull it out, but we kept on driving fast to get out of the ambush. The functioning was heroic. The commander gave an order to drive fast, and the driver – who was also injured by gunshots – drove and reported the incident at the same time.”

The officer who was lightly injured in the attack recounted the incident upon arriving at the hospital.

The policeman, who was driving the car, said he heard gunshots from the left side of the vehicle and his colleagues screaming from the back of the car. He said he also heard one of the bullets pass over his head, before he was hit in the shoulder from another bullet.

He added that he continued driving on Road 60 until the officers were met by rescue forces, who gave them initial medical treatment and evacuated them to the hospitals.

The driver’s friends and wife visited him at the Soroka Medical Center, where he was questioned by the police and delivered a testimony of the incident.

According to an initial investigation, three of the policemen left from Beersheba towards the Hebron police station, and stopped to pick up their colleague at the settlement of Shim’a.

According to estimates, the vehicle was shot by one person or more who was standing at the side of the road and fired the short at close range.

The policeman’s wife told Ynet, “When I called him he said he was being evacuated and that everything was okay. I heard about the incident this morning from my brother, who said he heard that a police car was fired on. My husband didn’t call me and I tried to catch him. After the second time I called he answered and said everything was okay.”

Police Commissioner Dudi Cohen visited the injured policemen at the hospital. He said the officer was killed by three bullets and that the police were still searching for the terrorists. “We hope the Israel Police, the general security service and the army will do all in their power to stop the cell which is still walking around freely.”

He said the incident was the eighth time in the past two years that police teams were shot by terrorists. “This means the police will be everywhere and anywhere they have to be,” he added.

Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch, who is currently visiting Bulgaria, was briefed on the attack.

‘Victims of Bibi and Barak’s policy’
South Mount Hebron Council Head Zviki Bar Hai said the attack was prompted by the removal of roadblocks in the West Bank, which he said only increased terror. “The policemen are the victims of Bibi (Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu) and (Defense Minister Ehud) Barak’s calculated prevention policy.”

Yehuda Glick, spokesperson for the nearby community of Otniel, added that “those who opened the Dahariya roadblock only three weeks ago, knowing that the place served as a shelter for terrorists, should not be surprised that the terrorists took advantage of their innocence.”

The Yesha Council said in response that “the security cooperation with the Palestinians, imposed by the political echelon on the IDF in Judea and Samaria in general, and in the Hebron area in particular, cannot provide security. This is costing lives for the police, the IDF and Israel’s residents.”

The last deadly attack on a West Bank road took place in December 2009, when 40-year-old Rabbi Meir Avshalom Hai of Shavei Shomron was shot from a passing vehicle. He was seriously wounded in his head and was proclaimed dead shortly afterwards.

In March 2009, two policemen were killed in a shooting attack in the Jordan Valley. Their killers have yet to be captured.

blowme, He is already get flack about his “9/11” comparison in the speech he hasn’t given yet. LOL!

It sounds to me like that he is going to change the energy policy….we thought he was going to do this…never let a crisis go to waste…this time its going to bite him in the butt. We know he waited, waited and waited letting this get out of hand so he could do just that….this is not going to be good for the idiot.

Mrs. Smith,
I know he is going to talk about his crap and tax bs…I don’t think the congress is going to go along with any more spending…there not doing anything he wants now….he has long his power some what.

I was over at hillbuzz, apparently theres a commentators that says there is a rule about not photographing the President’s head from a certain side. LC had a pic of that huge scar on his head, but I haven’t seen it much.

I have a question for anyone that believes what the Republican’s are saying about the Environmentalists…it’s all their fault for deep sea drilling…
The problem is more that deep water drilling was not safe, restrictions and safe guards were not in place and Big Oil was given a wink and a nod to do their dirty work. Money, money, money.

If the environmental movement hadn’t started in the 60ies, Greenpeace, etc…how would America look today as far as oil production and pollution goes? Say there was no restriction on where to drill in the water. (Personally, I think drilling on land is much more safe.)

I am not talking about the rabid environmental issues like saving every insect nor Nasty’s million dollar mouse, nor a push for Barry’s big tax on the environment)…but oil rigs built anywhere, car emission standards to help in big cities.

Would our cities be more smoggy, (leading to lung disease), would we have smaller more effecient cars, would we have clean beaches to enjoy, bring back large sea mammels that were almost extinct?

Just because the environmental groups are not standing at the door to the Oval office with pitchforks, doesn’t mean they are worthless. What are the freaking Republicans and Democrats (in general, some good folks are stepping up) doing to help the oil spill other than pointing fingers?

Who is walking the walk???????????????

– Bobby Jindel (I don’t like him, but he is in there doing what Obama should be doing).

– Carville, if only as a cheerleader and calling his buddy to the carpet.

– Scientists with their microbes and mop up inventions that are mainly being ignored.

LONDON (Reuters) – BP said the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico had already cost it $1.6 billion (1.1 billion pounds) and that it would begin operating an additional mechanism to capture more crude from the leaking well in the coming days.

London-based BP said in a statement on Monday that 51,000 damages claims had been submitted and that more than 26,500 payments, worth over $62 million, had been made.

The $1.6 billion includes only $60 million of $360 million the oil major has committed to building barrier islands off the Louisiana coast.

Shadowfax, I am sure there are many of those enviromentalists down on the coast working day and night to save the animals…I’ve know several marine biologists and I bet they are just sick about this. I’ve read some comments and some have come to the coast on their own dime to help out. I think what we are griping about is where’s Hollywood in this???Where’s Angelina,Brad, Susan fucking Sarandon, where the fuck are these assholes???

I personally can’t wait for this “Speech” because it will verify all I’ve been thinking about WHY Barry Soetero has sat on this for so freaking long. I pity the SOB if this is what comes out of this speech, because his chances of being re-elected, getting any policy thru, or being remembered in history by anything good will be OVER! HE freaking ass will be TOAST! HE might as well step down and resign!

The speech is “a day late and a dollar short” but big media will “redeem” him just like they did during his so – called race speech during the primaries…sickening. By the way, being objective, he made a few good speeches in the primary’s and general campaign, (with help of TOTUS), but really, like everything else, his speech ability is overrated. Bill can talk so plainly and off the cuff and make you feel so much better than Obama ever has.

The speech is “a day late and a dollar short” but big media will “redeem” him just like they did during his so – called race speech during the primaries…sickening. By the way, being objective, he made a few good speeches in the primary’s and general campaign, (with help of TOTUS), but really, like everything else, his speech ability is overrated. Bill can talk so plainly and off the cuff and make you feel so much better than Obama ever has.
===================================
Yes, but there is a difference in this case. First of all his credibility and that of big media is on the wane. They cannot move the needle as they once did. Second, this is part of a larger pattern of failure to act, and words delivered after the fact are no substitute for effective action taken in real time. Third, the race issue was hypothetical whereas this issue is tangible and it is washing ashore in multiple states bringing dead wild life and economic ruin in its wake. Fourth, the damage to his reputation is done. It is like trying to sell Obamacare after the public has made up its mind. It is like pissing in the wind.

WASHINGTON — Searching for a way to satisfy both the United States government and its own shareholders, the board of BP on Monday was examining three options for what to do with its next dividend but failed to make a final decision, a person with direct knowledge of the board’s discussions said.

The company’s $10.5 billion annual dividend has become a point of contention as President Obama has said BP should not be paying stockholders when fishermen, oil workers and small-business owners are saying they cannot get the company to pay their loss claims from the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The discussions came as Mr. Obama was on his way to the Gulf Coast on Monday, his fourth trip to the region since the disaster struck, and as the company said it would increase the amount of oil they recover from the damaged well each day.

I want to see Potus with some oil on his rubber boots and saying he is going to do something about this oil in the gulf…so far he has pushed around a tiny little tar ball on a cleaned beach. I want to see him look like he gives a crap and not just covering his own ass.

The hard left IS anti semitic, as well as sexist. Here is an example of the former, from Obama’s bosom buddy Fidel, who has heaped great praise on Obama as you may recall. Meanwhile, the elites were so busy proclaiming the end of history, and the emergence of a global market that they failed to realize that ideology which is another form of religion still divided the world. To Obama: cuzzin, you are known by the company you keep.
————————————————
Israel denounces Castro “swastika” remarks
14 Jun 2010 12:51:47 GMT
Source: Reuters
* Comment issued by Cuba in Geneva amid rights debate
* Cuba part of majority bloc in U.N. rights body
By Robert Evans

GENEVA, June 14 (Reuters) – Israel denounced comments on Monday by former Cuban president Fidel Castro, who compared the Israeli treatment of Palestinians to the Nazi extermination of Jews, an example of heated rhetoric at a U.N. body’s debate.
Castro’s remarks were issued by Cuba’s diplomatic mission in Geneva amid debate in the 47-nation United Nations Human Rights Council on Israeli action in the occupied territories.

“The hatred felt by the state of Israel against the Palestinians is such that they would not hesitate to send the one and a half million men, women and children of that country to the crematoria where millions of Jews of all ages were exterminated by the Nazis,” the ex-Cuban leader said.

“It would seem that the Fuehrer’s (Nazi leader Adolf Hitler’s) swastika is today Israel’s banner,” the 83-year-old Castro declared in the latest of a series of articles dubbed “reflections” in the communist-ruled island’s media.

His remarks were not cited in the Council itself, but diplomats said Cuba had sent the comment to other foreign missions in Geneva as well as to journalists.

“With these outrageous comments, Fidel Castro shames his old-time companions and the ideals he always pretended to serve. Che Guevara must be spinning in his grave,” Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said in Jerusalem.

Israel has long lamented its treatment by the Human Rights Council, which it believes is biased against it. Cuba is a member of the council’s bloc of developing countries, which shields its members and friends outside the body like Iran and Sri Lanka from criticism, but regularly condemns Israel.

Fidel Castro stepped down in 2008, following a long illness after nearly 50 years as his country’s number one leader and handed over power to his younger brother Raul, now 79. Since then his “reflections” have kept him in the public spotlight.

On June 2 the Geneva-based Council condemned as outrageous Israel’s interception of a ship flotilla taking aid to blockaded Gaza and the death of nine activists on board one vessel, voting to set up an independent fact-finding mission into the affair. Israel has set up its own probe with foreign experts and rejected a separate U.N. investigation. (Editing by Peter Graff)

confloyd
June 14th, 2010 at 1:38 pm
I want to see Potus with some oil on his rubber boots and saying he is going to do something about this oil in the gulf…so far he has pushed around a tiny little tar ball on a cleaned beach. I want to see him look like he gives a crap and not just covering his own ass.
_____________________________________________

I don’t want to see him doing anything but accepting foreign help from experts who know what the fuck they’re doing in containment and cleanup as well as commiting the federal government to DOING containment and cleanup rather than having the frickin coast guard “oversee” BP’s make-shift “plans” and execution of same.

THIS is the damned problem that is getting lost in the Big Media coverup – “Barry’s doing all he can”, no, FUCK NO is doing NOTHING except blamethrowing and sending lawyers around.

The ObamaLIES just keep compounding:
————————————-
By TOM MURPHY
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INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Companies that offer employee health insurance expect another steep jump in medical costs next year, and more will ask workers to share a bigger chunk of the expense, according to a new PricewaterhouseCoopers report.
For the first time, most of the American workforce is expected to have health insurance deductibles of $400 or more, the consulting firm said in a report released.

Deductibles are the annual amount a patient pays out of pocket for care before insurance coverage starts. They are generally separate from co-payments and coinsurance.

Two years ago, only 25 percent of companies participating in the annual survey said they asked employees to pay deductibles of $400 or more. That grew to 43 percent in 2010 and is expected to pass 50 percent next year.

Employees who are asked to pay more through things like higher deductibles help keep cost growth in check because they use less health care.

The health care reform law passed by Congress and then signed by President Obama in March has just started to unfold and will have little impact on costs next year, said Michael Thompson, a principal with PricewaterhouseCoopers.

“In general, it’s a continuation of a fairly high rate of medical inflation,” he said.

PricewaterhouseCoopers found that medical costs are expected to rise 9 percent next year. But this doesn’t mean workers will see their monthly premiums jump by the same amount.

Employers typically try to soften the impact of a cost increase by absorbing some of it, changing insurance plan designs or asking employees to pay higher deductibles or a larger coinsurance percentage.

For instance, a medical cost increase of more than 9 percent was forecast for 2009. But the average annual premium rose only 5 percent for family coverage that year and stayed flat for single coverage, according to a separate study from the Kaiser Family Foundation.

The 9 percent medical cost increase projected in 2011 is actually slightly smaller than the 9.5 percent jump PricewaterhouseCoopers is seeing this year. Thompson said several top-selling drugs will lose patent protection next year and become exposed to lower-cost generic competition. That will help temper the increase.

The PricewaterhouseCoopers report also found a steep drop in the percentage of employers that subsidize retiree health coverage. It said only 22 percent of employers with more than 5,000 workers subsidized retiree coverage after age 65 this year. That’s down from 37 percent in 2009.

“It’s a major cost and one that employers have for years now been moving away from,” Thompson said.

PricewaterhouseCoopers compiled its report by analyzing e-mail survey results from 674 companies in 30 different industries across the country. Most of the companies participating had 1,000 employees or more. The firm also interviewed health plan executives and reviewed analyst reports.

I don’t want to see him doing anything but accepting foreign help from experts who know what the fuck they’re doing in containment and cleanup as well as commiting the federal government to DOING containment and cleanup rather than having the frickin coast guard “oversee” BP’s make-shift “plans” and execution of same.

THIS is the damned problem that is getting lost in the Big Media coverup – “Barry’s doing all he can”, no, FUCK NO is doing NOTHING except blamethrowing and sending lawyers around.
====================================================
Correct. Barry is supposedly an executive. The essence of being an executive is to understand the nature of the business, to anticipate problems, and to see that they are addressed effectively and in a timely manner.

What WILL it take for the Dems to impeach this boob? If they can’t see he’s destroying the Country, they’ve got to see he’s destroying them!
——————————
Patriotism, judgment and courage–3 things they obviously lack.

Until the Deepwater Horizon rig drilling BP Plc’s (BP.L) Macondo well off Louisiana blew up in April, Ixtoc was the only catastrophic oil spill at sea that was not caused by a tanker accident or sabotage.

That disaster made plain what could go wrong in deepwater drilling. After all, it took Mexico’s state oil company Pemex PEMX.UL 297 days and the drilling of two special relief wells — the industry’s slow moving but only certain fix for blowouts — to intersect and cap the raging Ixtoc well, located in 150 feet of water.

But a review of hundreds of pages of U.S. government documents related to the Ixtoc spill, as well as interviews with many experts, shows that regulators for years downplayed the possibility of a similar disaster occurring in the United States.

“I remember people saying ‘this would never happen if an American company was operating,'” said John Farrington, a retired researcher at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution who was part of a U.S. government-funded research cruise around the Ixtoc slick in September 1979. “There was a lot of wishful thinking going on.”

In fact, a combination of politics, money and hubris encouraged the industry to drill ever deeper. Warnings from researchers in the aftermath of Ixtoc that little was known about how crude spilled deep under water might behave or that runaway deepwater wells could be more challenging to cap fell on deaf ears.

Macondo, the scene of BP’s spill, is 30 times deeper than Ixtoc — 4,993 feet, or about a mile down in the dark, freezing depths of the Gulf. Special robots able to resist the crushing pressure of the deep that would destroy a modern navy submarine are the only way to get close to the leak.

I was over at hillbuzz, apparently theres a commentators that says there is a rule about not photographing the President’s head from a certain side. (Manchurian Candidate(?) Uh, huh!
________________________________
Check out the video I posted. It is a lengthy one but you can listen to it if you can’t sit still long enough to watch it to conclusion.

You mean the scar on the side of his head? I noticed it some time ago. I didn’t notice it before he was elected though… The video has been updated. A new with plenty of info documenting the Federal Reserve’s culpability in the Banking crisis and naming names.

My take on this disaster is that BP is going to declare bankruptcy and we are stuck for the total cost for years to come.Perhaps even generations noy born yet.I do hope I am wrong but we are being exposed to the Obama revolution.

I am worried about BP declaring bankruptcy too, their stocks fell 9% and they will scramble to do all they can to save their profits.

I read somewhere, they are the 4th largest company in the world…so this should be a drop in the bucket for them.

I also worry that terrorists may see sabotage of these rigs as the new 9-11 strike. Much easier to cause this type of disaster and the destruction effects even more people and the economy and the food chain.

ACORN employees tell FBI of deliberate election fraud, according to new documents

[snip]

The handwritten reports by FBI agents show that ACORN employees reported numerous irregularities in the nonprofit group’s business practices.

One employee told the FBI that ACORN headquarters is “wkg [working] for the Democratic Party.”

According to one report, an ACORN employee said the purpose of “[f]raudulent cards” was “[t]o cause confusion on election day to keep polls open longer,” “[t]o allow people who can’t vote to vote,” and “[t]o allow to vote multiple times.”

Another report quotes an employee saying, “Project Vote will pay them whether cards fake or not – whatever they had to do to get the cards was attitude.” Project Vote pays based on the number of cards and “that’s why they were so reckless,” the report says.

A report quotes an employee saying, “I don’t like our system. I don’t think we should do voter registration.” The report also notes that employees were “[c]onstantly threatened” and that the staff were “instructed on what to say to FBI.”

Another report indicates an employee told the investigator, that ACORN “[t]old employees not to talk to the FBI.” The FBI is “‘trying to intimidate you.’”

“These documents show the need for a national criminal investigation by the Obama Justice Department into ACORN,” said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch.

“Is Attorney General [Eric] Holder doing nothing because of Obama’s close connections to ACORN and Project Vote? The information in these new documents has national implications that cry out for further investigation,” Fitton said.

NEW ORLEANS – BP mounted a more aggressive response to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday as it started deploying undersea sensors to better measure the ferocious flow of crude while drawing up new plans to meet a government demand that it speed up the containment effort ahead of President Barack Obama’s visit to the coast.

[snip]

BP is currently capturing about 630,000 gallons of oil a day, but hundreds thousands more are still escaping into the Gulf. The company has said that it could begin siphoning an additional 400,000 gallons a day starting Tuesday by burning it using a specialized boom being installed on a rig — and any new success would be welcome news for Obama as he returns to the Gulf.

“Center for American Progress”, a Soros group – is calling the shots:
________________________________________
From WSJ:

If you want to see where President Barack Obama’s response to the Deepwater Horizon disaster is heading, try following the urgings of the Center for American Progress.

The liberal think tank with close White House ties appears to have more influence on spill policy than the president’s in-house advisers. On May 4, for instance, the CAP’s energy and environment expert, Daniel Weiss, called on the president to name an independent commission to look at the causes of the Deepwater Horizon disaster. On May 22, he did just that.

On May 21, CAP president, John Podesta, privately implored White House officials to name someone to be the public point person for the spill response. A week later, the White House announced that Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen would hold daily briefings on the spill, wherever he would be on any given day.

On May 26, Weiss said the White House needed to demand that BP immediately set up an escrow account with billions of dollars from which claims for Gulf state residents would be paid out.

Numerous lobbyists do BP’s bidding
Influence extends to both political parties

[snip]

Tony Podesta, whose firm has earned $700,000 in lobbying fees from BP America Inc. since 2008, has raised at least $50,000 for the DSCC so far this year, according to Senate lobbying records and federal election filings.

The relationship between Mr. Podesta and the oil giant underscores the significant political muscle BP still has on Capitol Hill with both political parties, despite the outcries from lawmakers and the White House for a full investigation of the oil company’s role in the spill and its response.

“BP is one of the strongest lobbying and political forces in Washington, D.C.,” said Dave Levinthal, spokesman for the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. “They’ve consistently spent millions of dollars every year on federal lobbying and, in the most recent years, they’ve increased the output to new heights.”

Mr. Podesta’s firm isn’t BP’s only lobbying powerhouse.

The oil company also enlists the services of the Duberstein Group, headed by Kenneth Duberstein, who was an aide to President Reagan, and Michael Berman, who was an aide to Vice President Walter F. Mondale. The firm hosted a fundraiser for California U.S. Senate candidate Carly Fiorina in April, according to the nonpartisan Sunlight Foundation.

There will be transition costs and a time of adjustment. But if we refuse to heed the warnings from the disaster in the Gulf — we will have missed our best chance to seize the clean-energy future we know America needs to thrive in the years and decades to come.

The House of Representatives has already passed a comprehensive energy and climate bill, and there is currently a plan in the Senate — a plan that was developed with ideas from Democrats and Republicans — that would achieve the same goal. But this is an issue that Washington has long ignored in favor of protecting the status quo.

So I’m asking for your help today to show that the American people are ready for a clean-energy future.
__________________________________________________

THEODORE, Ala. — President Barack Obama says from the oil-stricken Gulf of Mexico that seafood from the region is safe to eat and announced a new coordinated effort to make sure it stays that way.

In remarks from Theodore, Ala., on Monday, Obama said that the government will step up its inspections and monitoring to help ensure that the Gulf Coast food industry is getting the kind of protection and certification it needs to sell its products around the country.

The president had high praise for the Gulf seafood he ate for lunch in Mississippi. He is in the region on a two-day trip.

***********************************

Ain’t that wonderful! Obama is eating Seafood for lunch (remember michelle obama orders lobster from room service for a SNAK) while the rest of us are scraping penny’s for hamburger helper and spam sandwiches (Ewww)
oh and since we have always known that what ever comes out of his mouth is the exact opposite of what he “wants” or “really means”

hate to say it, but even if i could afford to eat seafood, i would be staying away from the seafood.

“IPCC Consenus was phoney says IPCC Insider” “actual number only a few dozen”

The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change misled the press and public into believing that thousands of scientists backed its claims on manmade global warming, according to Mike Hulme, a prominent climate scientist and IPCC insider. The actual number of scientists who backed that claim was “only a few dozen experts,” he states in a paper for Progress in Physical Geography, co-authored with student Martin Mahony.

“Claims such as ‘2,500 of the world’s leading scientists have reached a consensus that human activities are having a significant influence on the climate’ are disingenuous,” the paper states unambiguously, adding that they rendered “the IPCC vulnerable to outside criticism.”

Hulme, Professor of Climate Change in the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia – the university of Climategate fame — is the founding Director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and one of the UK’s most prominent climate scientists. Among his many roles in the climate change establishment, Hulme was the IPCC’s co-ordinating Lead Author for its chapter on ‘Climate scenario development’ for its Third Assessment Report and a contributing author of several other chapters.

Hulme’s depiction of IPCC’s exaggeration of the number of scientists who backed its claim about man-made climate change can be found on pages 10 and 11 of his paper, found here.

Okay, one more blog hog post…
Just over at the cheetos site, wondering how the Obots are doing with the gusher and sounds like some have run out of kool-aid:

Here’s the original post, and below are some choice comments…

After prodding, BP delivers more aggressive oil capture plan

After the Obama administration pushed BP to develop a more aggressive plan to capture oil, BP has responded with a plan that would capture up to 60 percent more oil than its previous proposal.

BP’s initial plan was to develop capacity to capture 38,000 barrels per day by the end of June and up to 50,000 by mid-July. According to Reuters, the new plan would create capacity for up to 53,000 barrels per day by month’s end and up to 80,000 barrels per day by mid-July.

Nothing will actually stop the well from leaking until a relief well is completed. That won’t happen until August at the earliest and could take longer.

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comments:

— seemed to come from Morgan Freeman’s speech in Deep Impact…
“This is bad. Things will be bad. Nothing will ever be the same. But we will recover. We are Americans.”
That is nice…really. They were the right words. But not even he seemed to believe what he was saying.
I still can’t get over the comment about eating seafood from the Gulf. Good God.

— There is a fu@king gusher of oil spilling into the ocean non-stop for more than month.
You don’t fu@king tell people that it’s ok to eat fish from the Gulf and then laugh about just getting done eating a tasty fish dinner.

— You don’t shut down entire fisheries and then tell people that the “fish is safe to eat.”
Duplicitous at best…and dangerous at worst.

— utterly ridiculous.
I actually like the guy. I want him to succeed.
But, I ain’t gonna defend that kind of stupid.